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THE    ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY 

OF   THE 

PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY 


OK    THK 


PRIMITIVE  METHODIST  CHURCH 


BY    THE 


REV.    H.    B.    KENDALL,    B.A. 


VOL.  II. 


Bonbon : 
EDWIN    DALTON:    48—50    ALDERSGATE    STREET,    E.G. 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST  CHURCH. 


VOL.  II.      BOOK  II.  CONTINUED. 

CHAPTER   XII. 
THE  BEMEESLEY  BOOK-ROOM,  1821-43. 

fXPERIENCE,  temperament  and  policy  all  combined  to  make  Hugh  Bourne 
publisher  and  pressman.  His  character  had  been  shaped  and  a  new 
direction  given  to  his  life  by  the  printed  word.  Though  naturally  taciturn 
and,  like  Moses,  "not  eloquent  .  .  .  but  slow  of  speech  and  of  a  slow 
tongue,"  he  was  communicative  through  another  medium  than  that  of  speech.  All 
along  he  obeyed  a  pretty  steady  impulse  to  express  himself  in  manuscript  and  type — 
to  externalise  his  own  convictions  and  his  impressions  of  the  facts  before  him,  as  his 
life-long  journalising,  and  his  innumerable  memoranda  respecting  past  and  current 
events  clearly  show.  In  all  this  he  was  the  direct  opposite  of  William  Clowes,  who 
was  averse  from  the  use  of  the  pen.  For  him  the  inside  of  a  printing-office  had  few 
attractions,  yet,  like  Aaron,  he  was  naturally  eloquent,  and  could  "speak  well." 
Moreover,  as  a  practical  man,  Hugh  Bourne  knew  what  power  there  was  in  the  press 
as  an  instrument  of  propagandism ;  and,  as  one  of  the  founders  and  directors  of  a  new 
denomination,  he  may  have  had  the  ambition  to  copy,  in  his  own  modest  way,  the 
example  of  John  "Wesley — whom  he  so  much  admired — who  was  one  of  the  most 
voluminous  authors  and  extensive  publishers  of  his  own,  or  indeed  of  any,  time.  So 
Hugh  Bourne's  publications  ranged  from  a  somewhat  bulky  Ecclesiastical  History  to 
a  four-page  collection  of  "  Family  Receipts,"  which  tells  how  to  relieve  a  cow  choked 
with  a  turnip,  and  how  to  provide  a  cheap  and  wholesome  travelling  dinner  for  fourpence. 
Whence,  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  doings  of  Popes  and  Councils  as  well  as  the  small 
details  of  domestic  and  personal  economy,  alike  came  within  the  purview  of  his  printed 
observations. 

These  characteristics  and  habits  may  be  seen  at  work  in  Hugh  Bourne  even  before 
1811.  In  proof  of  this,  note  the  printed  account  of  the  first  camp  meeting,  hot  from 
the  press,  that  was  scattered  by  thousands ;  the  "  Rules  for  Holy  Living "  distributed 
on  camp-grounds,  and  even  slipped  through  the  broken  panes  of  Church  windows ;  his 

A 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


"  Scripture  Catechism,"  1807 — not  half  as  well  known  as  it  deserves  to  be  ;  and  his  tract 
on  "The  Ministry  of  Women,"  1808.  Note,  above  all,  in  this  introductory  period,  his 
adaptation  of  Lorenzo  Dow's  Hymn  Book,  1809,  of  which,  until  1823,  edition  after 
edition  was  published,  being  bought  so  eagerly,  especially  on  new  ground,  that  the 
revenue  derived  from  its  sale  helped  largely  to  sustain  some  of  the  new  missions. 
Some  of  the  provincial  printers— wide-awake  men — soon  discovered  the  value  of  this 
little  Hymn  Book  as  a  marketable  commodity,  and  issued  pirated  editions,  sometimes 
making  trivial  alterations,  and  then  having  the  effrontery  to  put  "  Copyright  secured  " 
on  the  title-page.  We  ourselves  have  met  with  no  less  than  eight  such  pirated  editions 
issued  before  1823,  bearing  the  imprints  of  local  presses  at  York  (two),  Leeds,  Gains- 
borough, Selby,  Burslem,  Bingham,  and  Nottingham. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  Connexion  in  1811,  Hugh  Bourne  pursued  the  same 
policy.  Printed  tickets  superseded  written  ones.  In  1814,  the  rules  of  the  new 
denomination  were  carefully  edited  and  published ;  Sunday  Schools  were  with  much 
labour  furnished  with  Bibles  and  reading-books,  and  other  requisites ;  Tract  Societies 
were  organised  and  equipped  ;  a  large  Hymn  Book  was  compiled  and  published  in  1812, 
but  it  met  with  little  favour  among  the  societies.  It  was  too  heavy  to  float,  and  it  must 
be  regarded  as  having  been  one  of  Hugh  Bourne's  publishing  ventures  that  failed.  The 
same  fate  befell  the  quarterly  Magazine,  projected  and  launched  for  a  very  short 
voyage  in  1818. 

To  all  intents  and  purposes,  there  was  an  Editor  and  Book  Steward  before  the  offices 
were  officially  created  and  the  officers  appointed.  If,  at  first,  Hugh  Bourne  practically 

combined  both  offices  in  himself,  it  must  not 
be  overlooked  that  his  brother  James  was 
always  at  his  back  ready  to  share  his  monetary 
responsibility  ;  and,  to  the  honour  of  both,  let 
it  also  be  remembered  that,  though  at  their 
initiative  the  societies  might  authorise  these 
early  publishing  ventures,  the  brothers  did 
not  appropriate  any  profits  that  might  accrue, 
but  surrendered  them  to  the  Connexion,  while 
they  took  all  the  risks  of  loss.  Thus,  one 
thinks,  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
when  the  first  Conference  found  it  necessary 
to  appoint  an  editor  Hugh  Bourne  should  be 
designated  to  the  office,  and  receive  instruc- 
tions to  complete  the  suspended  issue  of 
the  Magazine  of  1819 — which  he  did  in  the 
manner  already  described.  But  when  at  the 
next'  Conference  the  question  of  appointing 
a  Book  Steward  was  mooted,  the  case  was 
different ;  there  were  evidently  two  opinions 
both  as  to  the  person  to  be  appointed  and  as 
to  the  locale  of  the  Book-Room  already  looming  on  the  Connexional  horizon. 


HUGH   BOUUNE,    CONNEXIONAL   K1JITOU. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  3 

"  60.     Q.  Who  shall  be  Book  Steward  ? 

A.  If  the  Magazines  are  printed  in  Hull  Circuit,  E.  Taylor.  If  in  Tunstall 
Circuit,  J.  Bourne." 

If  there  were  any  rivalry  between  the  two  circuits  for  the  honour  of  having  the 
book-room  within  its  borders — as  we  strongly  suspect  there  was — it  was  soon  ended  in 
favour  of  Tunstall ;  for,  at  the  Conference  of  1821,  in  answer  to  the  question  :  "How 
shall  the  Book  Concern  be  managed  ? "  it  was  resolved  : — 

"  James  Steele,  James  Bourne,  Hugh  Bourne,  Charles  John  Abraham,  and  John 
Hancock,  are  elected  as  a  Book  Committee  to  manage  the  concerns  for  the  ensuing 
year.  These  are  to  receive  and  examine  all  matters  to  be  inserted  in  the  Magazine, 
and  all  other  matters  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  print.  H.  Bourne  is  appointed 
Editor,  and  J.  Bourne  Book  Steward  ;  and  the  Committee  are  at  liberty  to  receive 
matter  from  W.  O'Bryan,  and  to  insert  in  the  Magazine  from  time  to  time,  such  of 
it  as  they  may  think  proper.  The  Committee  are  empowered  to  establish  a  General 
Book-Room,  and  a  printing  press  for  the  use  of  the  Connexion." 

This  incidental  reference  to  the  founder  of  the  Bible  Christian  Church  is  historically 
interesting ;  and,  with  his  usual  acuteness,  Hugh  Bourne  points  out  in  the  Magazine 
for  1821,  the  remarkable  similarity  between  the  two  denominations  as  regards  their 
practical  recognition  of  the  ministry  of  females.  Referring  to  Joel's  prophecy  (ii.  28-29), 
he  says  : — 

"In  the  latter  part  of  the  promise  which  respects  daughters  and  handmaidens 
prophesying,  or  preaching,  a  remarkable  coincidence  has  taken  place  in  ou 
Connexion,  and  in  the  Connexion  which  arose  in  Cornwall.  It  is  really  surprising 
that  the  two  Connexions,  without  any  knowledge  of  each  other,  should  each,  nearly 
at  the  same  time,  be  led  in  the  same  way,  as  it  respects  the  ministry  of  women. 
Both  Connexions  employed  women  as  exhorters,  and  as  local  and  travelling 
preachers.  When  the  two  Connexions  became  acquainted  with  each  other,  and 
found  so  striking  a  similarity  in  their  proceedings  with  regard  to  female  preachers, 
it  became  a  matter  of  desire  to  know  by  what  steps  each  Connexion  had  been  led 
into  the  measure.  This  produced  a  request  on  the  subject,  to  which  the  following 
letter  was  sent  as  an  answer,  etc." 

But  to  return  to  the  Book  Committee.  Hull  had  lost  the  Book-Room,  and  was  to 
develop  itself  in  its  own  splendid  way,  while  Tunstall  was,  for  some  years  to  come,  to 
become  more  and  more  the  directive  centre.  Yet,  though  Hull  acquiesced  in  the 
arrangement,  its  delegates,  we  are  told,  asked  that,  until  the  necessary  printing  plant 
had  been  acquired  for  the  Connexion,  the  Magazines  might  be  printed  by  "  their 
own  printer"  at  Hull — probably  J.  Hutchinson.  The  Conference  granted  the 
request  and  hence,  H.  Bourne  says:  "  he  had  to  attend  at  Hull  and  bore  his  own  expenses." 
But  this  arrangement  certainly  did  not  last  long,  for  the  last  number  of  the  1821 
Magazine,  at  least,  was  printed  at  the  Connexional  printing-office  at  Bemersley  :  so  that 
the  work  of  printing  the  first  two  volumes  of  the  Magazine  was  executed  by  five 
different  printers,  residing  in  as  many  different  towns — to  wit :  Leicester,  Burslem, 
Derby,  Hull,  and  Bemersley  !  What  is  now  the  Aldersgate  Primitive  Methodist 
Magazine  has  had  a  long  and,  on  the  whole,  a  prosperous  voyage,  but  at  the  outset  the 
sea  was  choppy  and  unkindly,  and  the  bark  had  its  mishaps. 

A  2 


4  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

While  the  brothers  Bourne  are  looking  after  the  purchase  of  printing-presses  and 
founts  of  type  and  a  suitable  place  to  put  them  in,  we  will  just  glance  at  the  members 
of  the  Book  Committee  and  its  functions.  As  to  the  latter  :  Here,  as  everywhere, 
there  has  been  ev.olution,  so  that  it  were  indeed  an  error — though  one  easily  fallen 
into — to  suppose  that  our  ecclesiastical  courts  must  have  been  from  the  beginning  just 
what  they  are  now.  At  first  the  Book  Committee  was  a  General  Committee  as  well ; 
and  for  a  year  or  two,  in  conjunction  with  the  General  Committee  at  Hull,  it  had  to 
give  advice  and  counsel  to  the  circuits,  and  send  a  deputation  to  settle  matters  when 
desired.  The  Conference  Minutes  of  1822  even  go  on  to  say  :  "  If  the  two  committees 
think  that  there  is  a  providential  opening,  they  shall  institute,  or  take  steps  to  institute, 


J.  HANCOCK  S  HOUSE  AND  ENGRAVER'S  SHOP. 

a  missionary  establishment  for  sending  out  missionaries  in  a  general  way."  The  mode 
of  editing  the  Magazine  prescribed  was  certainly  a  peculiar  one.  Communications  were 
not  to  be  addressed  to  the  Editor  personally,  but  to  the  Book  Committee,  which  had  to 
decide  upon  the  suitability  or  otherwise  of  the  contributions  sent.  Contributions  from 
the  circuits  had  also  to  receive  the  endorsement  of  their  Circuit  Committees  ;  so  that 
the  Magazine  was  to  be  both  supplied  with  matter  and  edited  by  committees.  As 
the  contributions  chiefly  desired  and  expected  were  memoirs,  preachers'  Journals,  and 
revival  intelligence,  this  curious  arrangement  was  evidently  designed  to  prevent  puffery 
and  self-advertisement,  and  to  secure  authentic  reports.  These  regulations  were  soon 
relaxed  so  far  as  contributors  were  concerned,  but  there  is  evidence  to  show  that, 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  O 

throughout  the  Bemersley  period,  the  Editor  edited  through  his  committee,  and  John 
Flesher  found  this  out  when  he  entered  upon  his  new  duties  at  Bemersley,  which  is 
a  later  story.  In  1824,  we  read: — "The  Book  Committee  have  now  nothing  to  do 
with  the  general  concerns  of  the  Connexion."  Further,  it  is  to  be  noted  of  the  Book 
Committee,  that  for  many  years  it  was  also  the  Committee  of  Privileges ;  small  in  the 
number  of  its  members,  and  appointed  separately  from  the  other  committees.  In  1850 
the  Committee  of  Privileges  is  the  same  as  the  General  Committee,  and  in  1863  we 
have  the  significant  statement :  "  The  Book  Committee  shall  be  composed  of  the 
General  Committee."  This  arrangement  obtained  until  1894,  when  again  a  special 
Book  Committee  was  appointed.  Though  this  chapter  deals  with  the  Bemersley  Book- 
Boom  period,  we  have  thought  it  better,  for  the  sake  of  gaining  a  connected  view,  to 
follow  the  Book  Committee  in  its  latest  evolution. 

As  to  the  personnel  of  the  first  Book  Committee  :  John  Hancock  and  C.  J.  Abraham 
are  the  only  members  of  the  Committee  we  are  not  already  familiar  with.  Both  were 
leading  men  in  the  Tunstall  Circuit  through  the  whole  of  this  period,  and  the  former 
especially,  as  the  corresponding  member  of  the  General  Committee,  for  many  years 
wielded  considerable  influence.  He  was  a  member — and  an  active  one — of  the  Book 
Committee  until  his  death,  which  took  place  on  January  2nd,  1843.  Born  in  1796,  he 
was  an  engraver  by  trade,  though  later  on  in  life  he  became  largely  interested  in  the 
manufacture  of  pottery.  He  is  said  to  have  been  savingly  enlightened  by  reading  Thomas 
Aquinas,  "The  Angelic  Doctor" — probably  a  unique  experience  for  a  Primitive 
Methodist.  He  was  converted  in  1814,  and  joined  the  class  of  James  Steele.  The 
society  at  Pitt's  Hill  was  his  special  sphere  of  labour,  and  after  his  death  it  was 
frequently  remarked  :  "  He  was  the  first  leader  of  Pitt's  Hill,  the  first  in  raising  the 
old  chapel,  he  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  new  chapel,  preached  the  first  sermon  within 
its  walls,  and  was  the  first  whose  mortal  remains  were  interred  in  its  burial-ground."  * 

C.  J.  Abraham  is  already  known  to  us  as  the  druggist  of  Burslem  who,  probably 
about  this  time,  became  the  husband  of  Ann  Brownsword.  The  names  of  both  stand 
on  the  Tunstall  Plan,  and  Ann  Abraham,  especially,  was  much  esteemed  as  a  deeply 
pious  and  acceptable  preacheress.  C.  J.  Abraham,  like  J.  Hancock,  was,  both  locally 
and  connexionally,  a  leading  official  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Bemersley  regime 
being  an  active  member  of  the  General  as  well  as  of  the  Book  Committee.  He  was 
a  trustee  of  the  first  Burslem  Chapel  in  Navigation  Road,  as  well  as  of  Zoar  Chapel, 
acquired  in  1842,  though  it  was  not  used  by  the  Burslem  Society  until  two  years  later. 
It  was  the  trust  responsibilities  connected  with  these  two  properties  which  were  the 
cause  of  so  much  anxiety  to  Hugh  Bourne  in  his  later  years,  when  the  affairs  of  his 
brother  and  of  C.  J.  Abraham  had  become  hopelessly  involved. 

Bemersley  Farm,  the  home  of  the  Bournes,  was  the  place  selected  for  the  first  Book- 
Room.  We  would  like  to  picture  Bemersley  as  a  whole,  and  Bemersley  Farm  in 
particular.  We  naturally  feel  an  interest  in  a  place  which,  for  twenty  years,  was 
one  of  the  foci — we  may  even  say  the  focal  point — of  our  connexional  life  ;  the  spot 
where  the  central  wheel  of  management  was  set  up.  As  though,  then,  we  were  one  of 
those  many  pilgrims,  who  during  those  twenty  years  visited  for  the  first  time  a  spot  they 

*  "A  Memoir  of  Mr.  J.  Hancock,  of  Tunstall,"  by  Frederick  Brown  (Tunstall,  1843). 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHri!(  II. 


had  long  heard  of  but  had  never  seen,  we  approach  it  from  a  distance,  and  take  in  the 
general  features  of  the  landscape  before  we  seek  to  gain  a  nearer  and,  if  we  can,  an 
interior  view  of  the  Connexional  Book  Establishment.  The  description  given  by  the 
local  historian  may  help  us  to  this  general  view  of  the  hamlet  of  Bemersley  and  its 
surroundings ;  for,  although  it  is  Bemersley  as  it  was  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  he  describes,  its  main  features  must,  in  1822,  have  undergone  little  alteration. 

"  Bemersley  is  about  a  mile  north-west  of 
Norton  Church,  and  near  three  miles  from 
Tunstall — almost  entirely  moorland.  Old 
Bemersley  Farm  stood  on  a  hill  that  overlooked 
the  landscape  on  either  side,  and  many  a  dale 
and  valley  and  wood  did  this  ancient  house 
command  from  its  eminence.  Looking  at  the 
scenery  to-day,  it  requires  little  discernment  to 
perceive  how  wild  and  rugged  the  place  must 


BEMEHSLKY    FARM    AND  THE 
FIRST   PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   BOOK-UOOM. 


have  been  in 
1772.  On  one 
side  lay  the 
Valley  of  the 
Potteries,  but 
the  smoke 
and  the  bustle 
were  hidden 
in  the  dis- 
tance ;  and  on 
the  other  the 
view  stretch- 
ed away  over 

the  great  moorlands.  There  were  three  or  four  farm- 
houses dating  from  the  sixteenth  century,  about 
the  same  number  of  cottage  houses,  and  at  the 
remote  part  of  the  hamlet  stood  Greenway  Hall. 
Round  this  old  house  there  was  a  large  park  and 
extensive  game  preserves." 

Bemersley  Farm  stood  by  the  roadside  some  little  distance 

from  Bemersley.     The  visitor  saw  nothing  in  the  outward 

aspect  of  the   building  to  give  it  any  distinction  above 

other  buildings  of  its  kind.      "It  had  nothing    of   the 

world's  glory."     It  was  but  an  ordinary  farm-house  with  the   usual  appurtenances— 

fold-yard,  barn,  and  stables.     Here  lived  the  Editor  and  the  Book  Steward,  who  had 

to  adapt  the  buildings  to  their  new  purposes.     James  Bourne,  therefore,  laid  out  before 

May,    1823,  the  sum  of  £373  8s.    lOd.  in    the    purchase  of  a   printing-press,   type, 

and    other  printer's  plant,  and   bookbinder's  tools  and  materials  as  well,  as  Ave  may 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  7 

infer  from  the  entry  in  the  Conference  Minutes  :  "That  it  be  recommended  to  the 
circuits  to  get  their  binding  done  at  the  Book-Room,  if  the  Book-Room  can  get  it 
done  as  well  and  as  cheap  as  elsewhere."  In  one  "of  the  farm-buildings  adjoining  the 
house,  the  printing-press  and  a  few  cases  of  type  were  set  up,  and  the  Conference 
"Minutes"  of  1822  have  the  imprint:  "  Bemersley  near  Tunstall : — Printed  at  the 
Office  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion,  by  J.  Bourne  ; "  whereas  the  Minutes 
of  1821  say  :  "  J.  Hutchinson,  Printer,  Silver  Street,  Hull  " 

The  Book-Room  proper  consisted  of  a  detached  rectangular  building  of  the  Barnic 
order  of  architecture,  and  plain  even  for  a  barn.  As  shown  in  our  picture,  it  was 
pierced  with  few  windows  and  sparsely  provided  with  doors.  Some  of  the  walls  of 
this  building  were  lined  with  shelves  divided  into  pens,  in  which  the  magazines  and 
hymn  books,  small  pamphlets  and  books — of  which  the  most  popular  was  the  "Journals 
of  John  Nelson" — were  stowed  until  the  bi-monthly  packing-day  came  round,  when 
a  gentle  ripple  of  excitement  went  through  the  establishment.  The  bulk  of  the  parcels 
were  conveyed  in  carts  to  the  canal-quays  and  shipped  in  boats  to  the  various  circiiits. 

Besides  the  two  chief  officers,  there  were  resident  a  bailiff  of  the  small  farm, 
a  journeyman,  and  an  apprentice,  and  the  son  of  James  Bourne,  who  it  is  said  worked 
in  the  printing-office,  saying  nothing  of  Mrs.  Bourne  and  two  maids.  About  the  year 
1836,  John  Hallam  was  added  to  the  establishment.  His  position  was  a  somewhat 
peculiar  one  :  for,  after  1836,  his  name  is  not  found  on  the  stations  for  a  term  of 
years,  though  he  is  one  of  the  members  of  the  Book  and  General  Committees.  The 
explanation  is,  that  by  his  hearty  acceptance  of  Hugh  Bourne's  views  and  methods  of 
work,  and  by  his  laborious  and  successful  ministry,  he  had  ingratiated  himself  with  the 
Editor,  and  he  being  now  in  1836  in  very  indifferent  health,  Hugh  Bourne  had  installed 
him  at  Bemersley  as  his  assistant,  and  had  induced  his  brother  to  make  him  his 
assistant  also,  Mr.  Hallam's  salary  being  paid  out  of  the  private  purse  of  the  brothers. 
In  this  way  John  Hallam  acquired  great  influence  at  the  Book-Room  and  in  the 
administration  of  Connexional  affairs,  even  before  the  year  1843,  when  he  was  officially 
appointed  Book  Steward.  It  should  also  be  said  that  Mr.  George  Baron,  of  Silsden, 

who  often  acted  as  Connexional  Auditor,  frequently 
paid  visits  to  the  Book-Room  during  this  period,  and 
that  his  business  aptitude  proved  of  great  assistance  to 
James  Bourne.  In  1840,  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Baron 
went  to  Bemersley  to  take  the  place  of  his  brother  for 
a  short  time,  and,  in  his  interesting  reminiscences  of 
that  visit,  he  tells  how  it  was  his  duty,  early  each  week- 
day morning,  to  carry  the  post-bag  with  the  Book- 
Room's  letters  for  dispatch,  two  miles  distance,  to  Norton, 
and  to  call  at  a  public-house  for  letters  which  were 
left  there  for  the  Book-Room.  Mr.  Baron  gives  us 
a  pleasant  glimpse  of  the  interior  economy  of  the 
establishment :  of  the  regular  and  reverent  daily 
devotions,  of  the  meals  in  common,  of  the  hospitality 
MR.  G.  BARON.  afforded  to  the  ministers  who  frequently  visited  the 


8 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


Book-Room,  and  even  to  the  goodly  number  who  came  from  other  societies  to  attend 
the  Quarterly  Lovefeast.  What  is  still  more  interesting,  we  get  a  glimpse  into  the 
Editor's  own  room,  where,  when  back  from  his  not  infrequent  journeys,  he  attended 
to  the  duties  of  his  office. 

"  When  at  home  he  was  generally  busily  engaged  in  editing  or  writing  matter 
for  the  Magazines  and  in  Connexional  correspondence.  His  study  was  a  good-sized 
room,  fitted  with  shelves  for  his  library.  Among  the  books  in  it  there  was 
a  complete  well-bound  set,  from  the  beginning,  of  the 
Arminian  and  Wesleyan  Magazines.  The  first  volume 
contained  a  somewhat  lengthy  preface,  neatly  written 
and  signed  by  John  Wesley  in  his  own  handwriting. 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  volumes  have  been  scattered 
or  lost.  Had  they  been  kept  together  they  would  now 
have  been  an  interesting  and  valuable  relic.  Among 
other  books  in  the  library  were  a  number  of  Wesley's 
and  Fletcher's  Works,  Adam  Clarke's  Commentary, 
Gillie's  "  Historical  Collections,"  Finney's  "  Lectures," 
Hebrew  and  Greek  Lexicons,  etc.  [and  these  were  for 
use,  not  ornament].  In  the  cold  weather,  a  screen  was 
placed  in  this  room,  behind  which  the  venerable  man 
was  often  quietly  seated  before  a  writing-table,  busily 
seeking  to  stir  up  others  in  the  work  so  near  his  own 
heart — that  of  the  conversion  of  sinners."  * 

Such,    then,    was    our    first    Book-Room.       Thomas 

Bateman  was  a  passing  pilgrim  here  in  May,  1824.  He  was  on  his  way  with 
George  Taylor  to  attend  the  District  Meeting  at  Ramsor  to  be  held  in  Francis 
Horobin's  house.  The  District  Meeting  was  expected  to  be  an  umisually  important 
one,  as  the  rules  had  to  be  revised,  and  far-reaching  changes  introduced  specially 
relating  to  district  formation  and  representation.  Hence,  Thomas  Bateman  had 
been  pressed  to  attend.  He  had  stopped  the  nighi,  with  James  Nixon,  whom 
he  had  accompanied  to  his  class  with  much  profit  to  himself.  Then,  John 
Hancock — whom  he  now  met  for  the  first  time — had  looked  in,  and  read  him 
a  lecture  for  having  declined  to  preach  special  services  at  Pitt's  Hill — John  Hancock's 
own  favourite  society — alleging  that  ordinary  services  must  always  give  way  for  special 
ones.  And  now,  the  wayfarers — for  they  walked  the  whole  distance  to  Ramsor — had 
called  at  Bemersley,  having  noted  all  the  places  of  historic  interest  to  Primitive 
Methodists  as  they  went  along.  At  Bemersley  a  short  time  was  spent  in  looking  round, 
and  Thomas  Bateman  indulged  in  "  numerous  reflections  on  the  place  and  its  surround- 
ings on  which  an  angel  might  pause  and  wonder." 

Sentimental  reflections  are  here  pardonable  enough ;  but  the  most  obvious  reflection 
called  up  by  the  view  of  the  Bemersley  Book-Room  is  that  which  Thomas  Bateman 
himself  suggests.  That  the  important  District  Meeting  of  1824 — which  we  may 


*  See  appendix  to  second  edition  of  ''  Life  of  Hugh  Bourne,"  by  Dr.  W.  Antliff  and  the  Aldersgate 
Magazine  for  1900,  pp.  751-4. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    A.ND    ENTERPRISE.  9 

venture  to  say  was  a  rehearsal  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Conference — was  held  in  the 
room  of  a  farmhouse  in  a  secluded  hamlet  in  one  of  the  most  secluded  parts  of 
Staffordshire,  was  a  fact  just  ns  remarkable  as  that  the  Connexional  Book-Room  should 
be  located  in  the  farm-buildings  of  another  Staffordshire  hamlet.  Both  facts  were 
remarkable,  and  yet  natural ;  for  they  show  in  a  very  striking  way,  what  other 
consentient  facts  also  show  ;  that  we  w  ere  as  yet  largely  a  village  community  and, 
further,  that  considering  the  area  up  to  this -time  occupied  by  Primitive  Methodism — 
•embracing  the  country  we  have  already  surveyed — the  location  of  the  Book-Room  was 
fairly  central,  and  not  inappropriate.  By  1843  this  will  be  no  longer  true,  as  John 
Flesher  will  soon  learn  when  he  comes  to  take  up  his  editorial  duties  at  Bernersley. 

But  why  was  Thomas  Bateman  never  a  member  of  the  Book  Committee,  and  not 
even  a  member  of  the  General  Committee  until  1839?  This  question  is  worth 
considering  in  its  relation  to  the  Bemersley  period  of  our  history.  It  is  fortunate  that 
we  can  here  let  Thomas  Bateman  answer  for  himself.  Writing  of  this  same  Ramsor 
District  Meeting  of  1824,  he  says : — 

"  There  was  much  business— all  peaceable ;  but  I  did  not  feel  in  my  proper 
element.  I  believe  at  present  God  has  not  sent  me  either  to  baptise  or  legislate,  but 
to  preach  the  Gospel.  And  though  much  deference  was  shown  to  me  by  the 
brethren,  I  feel  no  wish  ever  to  attend  another  such  meeting :  and  after  much 
thought,  believing  as  I  did  that  my  friend  Taylor  had  a  special  call  and  was  well 
qualified  for  such  work,  I  resolved  never  to  attend  another  District  Meeting  or 
Conference  so  long  as  he  lived  and  could  attend,  unless  I  had  some  special  call  to 
do  so.  [And  he  kept  his  resolve  and  was  not  present  at  District  Meeting  or 
Conference  until  after  1837,  but  made  up  for  it  afterwards.]" 

Writing  fifty-seven  years  after,  he  repeats  the  statement  here  made,  but  further  adds 
•what  is  germane  to  our  purpose  : — 

"  From  this  cause  [the  keeping  of  this  resolve]  my  name  seldom  appeared  in  the 
Minutes  or  otherwise  as  affecting  Connexional  movements.  Still,  no  change  of  any 
moment  took  place  without  my  being  consulted,  and  I  was  always  ready  to  give  the 
best  advice  I  could,  which  was  always  received  with  the  greatest  cordiality." 

We  believe  the  words  we  have  italicised  to  be  true  to  their  very  last  iota,  and  that, 
though  Thomas  Bateman  was  apparently  in  the  background  through 
the  greater  part  of  the  first  period,  we  must  put  him  in  the  very 
fore-front  of  the  men — most  of  whom  we  know — who  guided  the 
revolutions  of  the  central  wheel  of  management.  We  do  not 
forget  such  prominent  Tunstall  District  men  as  Thomas  Wood, 
the  Brownhills,  R.  Mayer,  the  first  Primitive  Methodist  Mayor 
of  Newcastle-under-Lyne,  and  others  already  mentioned.  Even 
before  he  was  fully  committed  to  the  Connexion,  Hugh  Bourne 
was  drawn  to  young  Bateman.  He  read  him  portions  of  the 
History  of  the  Connexion  he  was  then  busy  with.  He  opened 

.      ,     ,         ,  .    .  .         .         ,  ,.  .  ,        THE   LATE   R.    MAYER, 

his  mind  freely  to  him  concerning  the  forthcoming  Magazine,  and          first  Primitive 
asked  him  to  become  a  contributor ;  and  to  the  very  end  of  Hugh 


10  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

Bourne's  life,  there    was   no  man  who   had    more  influence  with,  and  over,  him  than 
the  quiet,  sagacious,  forcible-speaking  farmer  and  surveyor  of  Chorley. 

We  must  now  proceed  to  chronicle  some  of  the  more  important  transactions  of  the 
Bemersley  Book  Committee.  First  in  order  among  these,  were  those  relating  to  the 
Hymn  Book.  It  seems  gradually  to  have  been  borne  in  upon  the  mind  of  Hugh  Bourne 
that  the  Revival  Hymn  Book  was  a  valuable  property  worth  preserving.  Therefore, 
in  1821,  he  resolved  to  copyright  the  book.  To  enable  him  to  do  this  he  himself 
composed  some  original  hymns,  and  Poet  Sanders  was  asked  to  do  the  same — for  a  con- 
sideration. There  exists  a  curious  document,  worth  giving  in  eztenso,  in  which  William 
Sanders,  in  precise  legal  form,  contracts  to  furnish  twenty-five  original  hymns  for  the 
same  number  of  shillings. 

"Received  March  1821,  of  Hugh  Bourne,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  shillings,  for 
twenty-five  hymns,  which  by  contract  were  composed  by  me  for  his  use,  and  which 
I  have  made  over  to  him  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  which  from  this 
time  become  and  are  in  every  sense  his  own  absolute  property.  The  first  line  and 
metre,  and  number  of  verses  of  each  are  as  follow  : — 1st.  C.M.,  four  verses,, 
beginning — 'Alas  !  how  soon  the  body  dies ' :  arid  so  it  continues  to  the  25th,  P.M. — 
eight  verses — Camp-meeting  Farewell — '  Dear  Brethren  and  Sisters  in  Jesus, 
Farewell.'  I  say  received  by  me, 

"\VILLIAM  SANDERS." 
"Signed  in  the  presence  of  C.  J.  Abraham." 

The  wisdom  of  the  protective  measures  taken  was  seen  in  1823,  when  a  printer  at 
York  named  Kendrew,  who  had  infringed  the  copyright  of  the  Hymn  Book,  was 
brought  to  his  knees.  The  law  was  set  in  motion,  but  Kendrew  capitulated  before  the 
case  went  into  court,  and  signed  an  agreement  pledging  himself  not  to  repeat  the 
offence,  to  pay  all  the  costs  incurred,  and  to  surrender  all  copies  of  the  unauthorised 
edition  in  his  possession.  The  Committee  having  gained  its  object,  which  was  to 
vindicate  its  rights  and  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  Connexion,  could  now  afford  to 
be  generous.  Hence  the  stringency  of  the  last  condition  was  somewhat  relaxed,  and  it 
was  agreed  to  pay  Kendrew  a  certain  sum  on  each  surrendered  copy  of  the  Hymn 
Book.  The  Conference  held  at  Leeds  this  same  year  (1823)  directed  that  "a  large 
standard  Hymn  Book  should  be  prepared  and  printed  at  the  Book-Room,  for  the  general 
use  of  the  Connexion."  Evidently  it  was  felt  that  even  the  improved  edition  of  1821, 
with  its  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  hymns,  was  inadequate  to  meet  the  growing 
demands  of  church-life.  A  book  was  called  for  which  should  "  contain  Hymns  for  the 
sacraments  and  for  the  general  varieties  of  meetings  and  worship."  The  Minutes  of 
1823  go  on  to  say  that  "the  new  book  is  expected  to  be  got  ready  by  the  close  of  the 
present  year,  or  early  in  the  next  year."  With  1824,  then,  began  the  reign  of  the  Large 
ai.d  Small  Hymn  Book  (bound  together)  which  served  the  uses  of  the  Church  until 
1853,  when  John  Flesher  was  instructed  to  compile  a  new  Hymn  Book.  The  Preface 
to  the  Large  Hymn  Book  claims  that  it  has  been  "  compiled  from  the  best  authors,  and 
enriched  Avith  original  hymns,"  and  that  "  the  original  hymns  were  of  a  superior  cast." 
With  his  eye  on  this  alleged  "superior  cast"  a  friendly  critic  has  written — evidently 
with  regret : — 

"  We  look  in  vain  among  the  original  hymns     ...     for  one  that  has  survived 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


11 


the  test  of  three-quarters  of  a  century's  wear  ;  posterity,  we  grieve  to  say,  did  not 
find  in  them  the  etherial  quality  of  an  immortal  hymn.  We  wish  that  there  had 
been  at  least  one  sweet  singer  for  all  Churches,  and  for  all  time,  among  the  band  of 
consecrated  single-hearted  men,  who  did  so  much  for  British  working  men  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century."  * 

Now,  though  it  scarcely  falls  within  our  province  to  discuss  the  literary  merits  or 
demerits  of  our  early  hymn  books,  a  word  or  two  may  be  said.  It  may  be  that  no  one 
has  given  us  a  hymn  dowered  with  immortality,  and  which  has  made  its  way  into 
almost  every  Hymnary.  That  may  be  conceded.  But  there  are  two  hymns — both  said 
to  be  the  joint  production  of  Hugh  Bourne  and  W.  Sanders— we  would  speak  up  for, 
or  rather,  let  them  speak  for  themselves — "  My  soul  is  now  united,"  which  first 
appeared  in  the  1821  Collection,  and  especially,  "  Hark  !  the  gospel  news  is  sounding," 
in  the  Large  Hymn  Book.  These  have  worn  well,  and  are  not  worn  out  yet.  For  open-air 
purposes  there  is  no  better,  more  stirring  hymn  than  this  latter ;  it  has  well  been  called, 
"  The  Primitive  Methodist  Grand  March."  These,  and  others  that  might  be  named,  are 
incomparably  better  than  some  of  the  jingles  that  have  had  considerable  vogue  in 

these  later  days.  The  best  defence, 
however,  we  have  to  offer  for  the 
old  hymns  is,  that  "  they  served 
their  generation  by  the  will  of  God," 
and  some  of  them  at  least,  like  the 
two  named,  have  not  yet  fallen  on 
sleep.  They  had  the  power  to  arouse 
attention  and  nourish  the  spiritual 
life.  "  Hark  !  the  gospel  news  is 
sounding,"  was  once  being  sung,  at 
the  dusk  of  eventide,  in  a  little 
hamlet. 

"A  young  man,  full  of  spiritual 


Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me    Luke  xviii.   16- 


CHILDREN'S     MAGAZINE. 


No.  1.] 


OCTOBER,     1824. 


{VOL.  1. 


INTRODUCTION. 


WE  are  now  entering  on  a  cfew  work :  a. 
work  designed  for  you,  ye  children  of  praying 
Parental  of  Parents  who  bear  you  up  before 
the  Lord ;  and  who  strive,  to  bring  the  guard 
of  heaven  upon  you  by  prayer.  'You  already 
inherit  a  blessing ;  for  the  generation  of  the 
upright  is  blessed.  You  hear  the  words  of  piety 
from  the  lips  ef  your  parents.  Your  hearts  are 
maved  with  a  desire  to  love  God,  to  be^  the 
children  of  your  heavenly  Father,  and  to  serve 
him  as  long  as  you  live. 

Sometimes  you  view  the  creation  in  all  the 
beauties  of  spring;  and  consider  that  it  is  your 
neavenly  Father  who  causes  the  grass  to  grow, 

A 


anxiety,  was  leaning  on  a  wall  in 
the  distance,  and  heard  the  joyous 
strains  of  the  refrain  :  '  None 
need  perish.'  A  responsive  faith 
awoke  in  his  soul  ;  peace  came ;  he 
dedicated  his  life  to  Jesus,  and  is 
now  a  minister  of  the  Connexion. 
Again  :  '  By  the  singing  of  this 
soul-stirring  hymn  ['My  soul  is  now 
united']  at  a  lovefeast  near  Pock- 
lington,  in  1822,  eighteen  souls 
surrendered  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
found  peace  !  "  t 

Could  even  "  Lead,  kindly  Light  " 
do  more  than  this  1 


*  Rev.  J.  O.  Gledstone,  "  Primitive  Methodist  Hymn  Books,"  in  The  Puritan. 
t  See  "  Lyric  Studies :   A  Hymnal  Guide,"  by  Revs.  J.  Doricott  and  T.  Collins.    An  admirable 
compendium  to  which  the  author  would  express  the  obligations  of  years. 


12  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUKCH. 

In  1824,  the  Children'*  Maijazine  was  begun.  Though  this  venture  AVHS  entered 
upon  with  no  little  anxiety,  it  proved  from  the  very  first  a  signal  success. 
The  demand  greatly  exceeded  expectations  ;  so  much  so,  that  several  impressions 
had  to  be  printed,  until  seven  thousand  copies  had  been  struck  off,  and  the  monthly 
circulation  reached  six  thousand.  We  have  pleasure  in  giving  a  reproduction  of  the 
first  page  of  the  first  number  of  this  excessively  rare  publication. 

As  we  all  know,  "  Take  care  of  the  children "  was  the  life-long  solicitude  and 
dying  charge  of  Hugh  Bourne.  In  his  case  it  amounted  to  a  passion,  and  became  one 
of  his  most  strongly-marked  characteristics.  Nor  was  he  slow  in  urging  upon  others 
the  same  solicitude  for  bringing  the  young  under  the  influence  of  Christian  truth.  Age 
wrought  no  abatement  of  his  zeal ;  and  hence,  probably  the  last  separate  production 
that  came  from  his  pen,  bore  the  title  : 

"  The  Early  Trumpet :  A  Treatise  on  Preaching  to  Children.     By  Hugh  Bourne, 
Bemersley,  1843."* 

What  has  been  said  of  the  early  Hymn  Books  equally  holds  good  of  the  early 
Magazines :  they  were  suitable  for  their  time  and  for  the  purpose  they  had  to 
fulfil  This  may  safely  be  said,  as  it  also  may,  that  what  sufficed  in  1823  had  its 
obvious  shortcomings  twenty  years  later,  and  would  never  do  now.  Other  times  ;  other 
Magazines.  Undoubtedly  the  Magazines  of  the  Bemersley  period  helped  to  cement  the 
circuits  of  the  Connexion  together,  and  to  promote  the  work  of  God.  The  revival 
intelligence  they  contained,  the  biographies,  the  occasional  articles  on  "  Providence," 
"Faith,"  "Conversation-gift"  etc.,  would  do  much  to  stimulate  and  to  inform 
their  readers.  It  is  wonderful,  considering  his  many  journeyings,  and  the  amount  of 
other  work  he  did,  that  Hugh  Bourne  fulfilled  his  editorial  duties  as  well  as  he  did 
fulfil  them.  We  cannot  help  remarking,  too,  how  widely  divergent  have  been 
the  estimates  formed  of  his  intellectual  capabilities  and  performances.  Our  own 
opinion  is  that,  as  to  these,  he  has  been  often  under-rated.  He  had  his  oddities 
and  weaknesses,  and  especially  in  later  years,  his  infirmities  of  temper,  but  he  had  an 
alert  and  vigorous  mind,  and  he  could  write  in  a  way  that  made  it  impossible  for  any 
one  to  mistake  his  meaning.  By  choice  he  habited  his  thoughts  in  homespun.  Some 
gifted  men,  who  clothed  their  thoughts  in  Johnsonian  garb,  have  interpreted  his 
homespun  as  a  sign  of  intellectual  poverty.  Never  was  there  a  greater  mistake.  His 
thought's  expression  was  not  cast  in  the  customary  moulds  of  verbal  form.  It  was 
rugged,  even  uncouth,  as  though  hewn  from  granite  :  but  there  it  is — outstanding, 
clear,  and  unmistakable. 

Even  the  ablest  and  most  heaven-sent  editor  may  find  his  work  a  difficult  one,  just 
because  so  many  of  his  readers  think  it  so  easy.  Allowing  for  this,  and  also  allowing 
for  the  advancing  intelligence  of  the  Connexion  through  the  'Twenties  and  'Thirties, 
which  went  on  creating  wants  not  fully  satisfied,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  in  the 
old  Minute  Books  evidence  that  the  Magazine  was  sometimes  criticised,  and  that  proposals 
were  made  for  its  improvement.  Especially  was  this  so  in  such  centres  of  light  and 

*  The  only  copy  we  have  seen  is  one  given  by  H.  Bourne  himself  to  Rev.  W.  R.  Widdowson. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  13 

leading  as  Nottingham  and    Hull.      In  proof  of   this  take  the  following  resolutions 
passed  at  the  Nottingham  Cinmit  Quarterly  Meeting,  1827  : — 

"March  19th.  Res.  59.  'That  there  be  an  improvement  in  the  Magazine. 
That  it  be  an  octavo  size,  price  sixpence  and  improved  in  matter. 

"  (60).     That  every  preacher  be  required  to  write  four  pages  per  year. 

"(61).  That  there  be  three  editors."  [And  then  the  'three'  is  crossed  out  and 
'two'  over-written.] 

So  also  at  Hull,  in  March,  1830,  the  Quarterly  Meeting  discussed  the  Magazines  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  "they  ought  to  contain  more  original  articles,"  and 
requested  "each  preacher  [in  1830  there  were  twenty-four  in  Hull  Circuit]  who  could, 
to  write  at  least  one  page  per  month." 

As  we  turn  over  the  leaves  of  the  old  Conference  Minutes,  we  meet  with  many 
reminders  of  the  changed  conditions  which  time  has  brought  about,  and  we  get  the 
impression  that  the  first  Book  Committee  was  composed  of  careful,  managing  men  who 
were  fertile  in  resource.  The  Conference  of  1823  recommended  that  a  depository  of 
books  obtained  from  the  Book  Room  should  be  formed  in  every  circuit.  The  money  in 
the  first  instance  was  to  be  taken  out  of  past  profits  and  supplemented,  if  need  be,  by 
subscriptions.  A  circuit  with  one  preacher  was  to  take  three  pounds'  worth  of 
goods  ;  a  circuit  with  two  preachers,  six  pounds  worth,  and  so  on  in  proportion. 
The  Station  Book  Steward,  who  it  must  be  remembered  was  not  necessarily 
a  travelling  preacher,  was  to  see  to  the  carrying  out  of  this  recommendation. 
In  1824,  Hugh  Bourne  felt  it  necessary  to  ask  the  Conference  to  allow  him  four  pounds 
a  quarter  as  salary,  and  ten  shillings  a  week  for  board  and  lodging — a  young  man's 
salary.  History  says  that  there  was  one  person  of  considerable  talking-power  at  the 
Conference  who  thought  it  his  duty  to  oppose  this  modest  request ;  but  it  was  granted 
notwithstanding,  the  objector  being  in  a  hopeless  minority.  In  1827,  a  scheme  for  the 
starting  of  a  "Preachers'  Magazine,"  on  which  Hugh  Bourne  had  set  his  heart,  was 
broached.  In  answer  to  the  question,  "What  shall  be  done  in  relation  to  the 
Magazine  1 "  it  was  resolved  : — 

"  One  number  in  duodecimo  shall  be  published,  and  if  it  does  not  pay  its  way, 
Hugh  Bourne  has  agreed  to  bear  the  loss.  But  if  it  take  so  large  a  circulation  as 
to  do  more  than  pay  its  way,  the  profits  must  not  go  to  H.B.  but  to  the  Connexion. 
Also  a  succession  of  Xos.  may  be  published  if  there  be  an  opening." 

A  succession  of  numbers  sufficient  to  make  up  one  volume  did  appear,  but  there 
were  no  profits  for  the  Connexion ;  and  Hugh  Bourne  was  permitted  to  make  up  the 
deficiency. 

In  1833,  what  in  the  Minutes  is  usually  termed  "the  cross-providence"  overtook  the 
Book-Room.  On  Good  Friday  Eve,  1833,  the  Book-Room  took  fire.  How  it  originated 
no  one  knew ;  "  whether  from  the  fire  that  dried  the  paper  or  from  the  snuff  of 
a  candle."  Damage  to  the  extent  of  £1,900  was  caused,  involving,  about  equally,  the 
private  property  of  the  Book  Steward  and  that  belonging  the  Connexion.  At  that 
time,  James  Bourne  was  a  man  of  considerable  means,  and  it  is  recorded :  "  J.  B. 
desires  nothing  for  that  portion  of  the  loss  which  belonged  to  him ;  but  hopeth  that  in 


14  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

time,  by  the  kind  providence  of  God,  he  may  surmount  it."  A  levy  of  one  penny  per 
member  was  imposed  in  order  to  make  good  this  loss  of  Connexional  property.  Sixty 
years  after,  the  Book-Eoom,  then  standing,  as  it  now  stands,  within  the  "  conflagration 
area"  of  Central  London,  was  within  measurable  distance  of  having  a  second  experience 
of  the  like  kind,  but  tenfold  worse  in  degree.  But  this  time  a  favourable  Providence 
saved  the  goodly  pile  from  disaster.  While  anxiety  was  reflected  on  the  flame-lit 
countenances  of  the  Book  Steward  and  his  staff,  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  wind 
averted  what  seemed  to  be  the  impending  catastrophe. 

How  and  why  the  Book-Eoom  got  from  Bemersley  into  the  roar  of  Central  London 
must  be  told  later  on. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  15 


CHAPTER   XIII. 
MANCHESTER  AND  THE  ADJACENT  TOWNS  UNTIL  1843. 

ANCHESTKR  was  made  an  independent  circuit  in  1821  by  the  same  Quarterly 
Meeting  which  made  Burland  a  branch.  Because  of  its  derivation  from 
Tunstall,  the  original  circuit,  it  was  placed  fourth  in  order  amongst  the 
sixteen  circuits  which  at  that  time  constituted  the  entire  Connexion. 
Looking  merely  at  the  order  of  circuit  formation,  Manchester  would  rightly  claim  to 
come  under  notice  before  Burland,  which  was  not  made  a  circuit  until  1823;  but, 
having  special  regard  to  the  geographical  direction  and  spread  of  Primitive  Methodism, 
the  right  is  reversed.  We  have  seen  that  north-west  Cheshire  was  being  inundated 
by  the  revival  movement  twelve  months  before  its  wave  had  reached  the  city  on  the 
Mersey.  The  extension  of  Tunstall  Circuit  to  Manchester  was  one  result  of  that  great 
revival  which  may  be  said  to  have  begun  by  John  Wedgwood's  mission  to  Staffordshire 
in  1819.  We  propose,  therefore,  in  this  chapter,  to  present  the  facts,  so  far  as  they 
can  be  ascertained,  relative  to  the  introduction  of  Primitive  Methodism  into  Manchester, 
and  to  show  what  position  the  denomination  had  attained  in  that  city  and  the 
neighbouring  towns  to  which  its  labours  had  extended,  by  the  year  1842. 

Hitherto,  it  seems  to  have  been  thought  almost  hopeless  to  recover  the  names  of 
those  who  had  the  honour  of  being  the  very  first  pioneers  of  the  Connexion  in  Manchester. 
We  would  fain  hope,  however,  that,  even  with  the  scanty  data  available,  the  nameless 
ones  may  yet  be  identified.  There  is  a  long-standing  tradition  to  the  effect  that 
Primitive  Methodism  was  first  carried  to  Manchester  by  "a  local  preacher  from 
Macclesfield ;  that  he  had  a  wooden  leg ;  that  he  walked  from  Macclesfield  on  the 
Sunday  morning  to  Manchester ;  that  he  preached  at  the  New  Cross  after  dinner ;  and 
that  he  walked  home  after  preaching  in  the  evening,  thus  performing  a  journey  of 
thirty-six  miles  on  foot ! " "  Now  tradition  is  often  very  tenacious  in  its  hold  of 
essential  fact,  especially  when  the  fact  is  such  as  to  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
imagination ;  and  the  mental  picture  of  the  unknown  missionary  with  his  artificial 
limb,  stumping  his  way  to  Manchester  and  back,  has  stamped  itself  on  the  imaginations 
of  men.  Who  else  should  the  hero  of  our  tradition  be  than  "  Eleazar  Hathorn  of  the 
wooden  leg " — the  convert  of  Lorenzo  Dow,  active  participant  in  the  first  Mow  Cop 
Camp  Meeting,  the  fellow-labourer  of  John  Benton  in  the  East  Staffordshire  Mission 
of  1814,  and  the  instrument  in  the  awakening  of  John  Ride?  We  had  reached  the 
conclusion  that  the  man  we  were  in  search  of  was  no  other  than  Eleazar  Hathorn,  when 
we  found  unexpected  and  pleasing  confirmation  of  such  conclusion  in  an  obscure  footnote 
of  Herod's  "  Sketches,"  in  the  words  :  "  This  said  Eleazar  was  the  first  Primitive  that 

*  The  Introduction  and  Spread  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Lancashire,  in  "  Anecdotes  and  Facts  of 
Primitive  Methodism."  Ity  Eev.  Samuel  Smith,  p.  91.  For  other  References  to  Eleazar  Hathorn, 
see  vol.  i.  pp.  68 ;  192. 


16  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

entered  Manchester."  *  We  may  therefore  reasonably  conclude  that  the  identification 
holds;  and  although  Manchester  bulks  largely  in  the  eye  of  the  Connexion,  and  is 
sure  to  bulk  still  more  largely  in  the  future,  it  has  no  need  to  look  otherwise  than 
complacently  on  the  figure  of  the  old  soldier  determinedly  plodding  his  way  to  deliver  his 
message  at  the  New  Cross.  We  can  think  of  no  more  fitting  precursor  and  prototype  of 
that  community  which  had,  with  slender  and  imperfect  appliances,  and  against  heavy 
odds,  to  win  its  way  step  by  step  to  an  assured  and  honourable  position  in  Cottonopolis. 
The  war-worn  veteran  was  a  herald  quite  as  worthy  as  though  he  had  rushed  there  on 
his  own  motor-car,  or  been  able  to  speed  to  the  big  city  with  the  swiftness  of  an  Elijah 
forerunning  the  chariot  of  Ahab. 

But  if  Eleazar  Hathorn  was  the  herald  of  the  Connexion  to  Manchester,  who  was 
its  apostle — its  sent  one  1  To  whom,  of  official  status,  does  Hugh  Bourne  allude  in  the 
explicit  statement :  "  Manchester  was  visited  and  preaching  established  about  March, 
1821"?t  This  statement  is  not  at  variance  with  the  tradition  already  referred  to; 
rather  do  tradition  and  statement  confirm  each  other.  Eleazar  Hathorn  who,  in  keeping 
with  his  habits,  had  gone  to  Manchester  to  do  a  little  independent  missioning,  in  the 
time  of  Macclesfield's  fervour,  would  naturally  report  his  doings,  and  probably  urge  upon 
the  "heads  of  houses"  (and  we  know  that  Hugh  Bourne  visited  him)  to  follow  up 
officially  these  visits  of  his.  We  light  upon  a  clue  as  to  the  person  selected  to 
"  open "  Manchester,  in  an  entry  in  Hugh  Bourne's  Journal.  Writing  under  date, 
January  18th,  1821,  he  tells  how  he  came  to  Belper  and  saw  Thomas  Jackson,  and  then 
goes  on  to  say  :  "  We  agreed  for  him  to  go  to  Manchester,  to  be  there  on  Sunday, 
March  9th."  Unfortunately,  there  is  an  evident  error  here  as  to  the  date  ;  for  March  9th 
was  Wednesday,  and  not  Sunday.  Probably  March  6th  was  the  date  intended.  In 
order  that  T.  Jackson  might  be  at  liberty  to  give  this  Sunday  to  Manchester,  some 
re-arrangement  of  appointments  was  necessary  ;  so  H.  B.  was  to  get  R.  Bentley  to  preach 
at  Rocester  at  that  time,  and  H.  B.  was  to  preach  at  Rocester  on  the  20th  of  March. 
This  arrangement  was  carried  out  so  far  as  Hugh  Bourne  was  concerned,  and,  doubtless, 
Thomas  Jackson  fulfilled  the  duty  assigned  to  him,  and  on  the  6th  March,  officially 
opened  Manchester.  Here  is  the  "  apostle  "  we  are  in  search  of. 

Let  us  briefly  recall  the  "form  and  pressure"  of  the  time  when  we  made  our  entry 
into  Manchester.  George  the  Third  had  but  recently  died,  and  in  a  few  months 
(July  27th,  1821)  the  coronation  of  his  graceless  successor  would  be  celebrated.  One 
notable  feature  of  the  celebration  was  to  be  a  procession,  two-and-a-half  miles  long,  from 
Peter's  Field  to  Ardwick  Green,  and  the  night  was  destined  to  close  with  a  drunken  orgie 
in  Shude  Market,  qualified  by  a  retributive  disaster.  Peterloo,  with  the  rankling  memories 
it  had  left,  was  only  just  behind.  At  New  Cross,  where  our  first  missionaries  so  often 
took  their  stand,  not  many  months  before,  cannon  had  been  planted  to  sweep  the  streets 
and  overawe  the  populace.  Nor  were  those  cannon  placed  there  merely  for  dumb  show. 
Manchester  was  like  a  caldron  in  which  conflicting  elements  were  seething.  They  were 
indeed  sad  times,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  another  Thomas  Jackson, 

*  Herod's  "  Biographical  Sketches."    Footnote,  p.  461. 
t  Magazine  for  1821,  p.  77. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  17 

though  a  duly  ordained  Methodist  minister  whom  the  highest  Connexional  honours 
awaited,  was  at  this  time  "forced  by  the  magistrates  even  after  the  public  services  of 
the  Sabbath-day  (in  Oldham  Street)  to  walk  the  streets  through  the  night,  in  company 
with  others,  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  .any  suspicious  movements  that  might 
appear." ''  With  Peterloo  in  the  near  background,  and  the  struggle  against  the 
Corn-laws  and  for  the  Charter  in  prospect,  who  will  say  that  the  former  times  were 
better  than  these,  or  question  the  statement  that  there  was  room  in  Manchester  for  any 
corrective  and  ameliorative  influences  Primitive  Methodism  could  bring  1 

We  are  told  that  the  first  meetings  of  the  newly  formed  cause  in  Manchester  were 
held  "  in  a  loft  over  a  stable  in  Chorlton-upon-Medlock,  somewhere  about  Brook  Street, 
also  in  a  cottage  in  London  Square,  Bank  Top."  Very  soon  "a  top  room  over  an  old 
factory  up  an  entry  in  Ancoats,"  locally  known  as  "  the  Long  Room,"  was  acquired  ; 
and  on  July  30th,  1820,  Ann  Brownsword  preached  several  times  in  this  room  and  also 
at  the  New  Cross.  She  speaks  of  crowded  services  in  the  room  and  of  having  had  ten 
converts  on  two  successive  week  evenings.  At  this  time  she  reports  that  there  are  five 
classes  and  eighty  members.  On  the  27th  and  28th  of  August  Hugh  Bourne  preached 
at  New  Cross  and  in  the  Long  Room.  He  renewed  the  tickets  to  the  society  and 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  first  camp  meeting,  which  from  another  source  we  learn 
was  held  on  the  Ashton  Road,  on  September  17th.  This  camp  meeting  was  conducted 
by  James  Bonsor,  fresh  from  his  experience  at  the  Stafford  Sessions,  who  had  been 
brought  from  Darlaston  Circuit  in  exchange  for  Ann  Brownsword.  James  Bousor's 
labours  were  not  confined  to  one  locality,  but  pretty  well  distributed  as  the  following 
entry  shows : — 

"  Sunday,  October  1st,  18W. — At  eight  preached  in  Cropper  Street.     At  ten  Bro. 

Smith  preached  at  Salford  Cross,  and  I  gave  an  exhortation.     A  many  seemed 

affected.     At  half-past  eleven  I  preached  at  another  place  in  Salford.     At  half-past 

one,  Bro.  Smith    and   1    preached  in  Castle    Field.      Many  people    and   a  good 

time ;  sinners  cried  much  for  mercy.     At  half-past  three  I  preached  in  another 

part  of  Manchester  to  a  large  congregation.     Near  five,  I  preached  at  Salford  Cross, 

and  at  half -past  six,  at  Manchester  New  Cross." — Magazine,  1821,  p.  20. 

Thus  on  one  Sabbath  he  took  part  in  seven  services  in  different  parts  of  Manchester. 

No  wonder  that  from  the  committee  meeting,  held  on  October  6th,  he  reports  that 

things  are  in  a  very  flourishing  state ;  that  there  are  nearly  one  hundred  members,  and 

that  they  had  agreed  to  take  another  room  in  a  different  part  of  the  town.     The  room 

here  alluded  to  would  probably  be  the  same  as  that  more  explicitly  referred  to  by  Hugh 

Bourne  (Magazine  1821)  in  the  report  of  the  Michaelmas  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the 

Tunstall  Circuit,  wherein  he  says  of  Manchester :   "  They  have  a  very  large  room  in 

New  Islington,  and  they  have  had  the  courage  to  take  another  large  room  in  Chancery 

Lane.     This  example  may  be  followed  with  advantage  in  most  towns." 

As  early  as  James  Bonsor's  short  mission  in  Manchester  two  names  that  should  not 
be  forgotten  came  before  us  for  the  first  time.  Samuel  Waller,  a  cotton-spinner  in 

*  "  Recollections  of  My  own  Life  and  Times."  By  Thomas  Jackson,  p.  173.  Mrs.  Linnaeus 
Banks  deals  with  this  precise  time  in  "  The  Manchester  Man."  The  work  contains  much  local  colour 
and  word-sketches  of  contemporary  persons  and.  localities. 

B 


18 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 


partnership  with  his  brothers,  was  at  this  time  a  Methodist  class-leader.  He  was 
brought  in  contact  with  the  Primitives  and  felt  drawn  to  them  by  reason  of  their 
methods  of  doing  good  and  their  plainness  in  dress.  With  the  concurrence  of  his 
brother,  who  was  also  a  Methodist  class  leader,  he  joined  the  infant  society.  His  first 
public  effort  was  made  on  September  25th,  1820,  at  what  was  called  a  watch-night 
service  in  the  Long  Room,  when  he  and  Walton  Carter  each  gave  an  exhortation, 
and  James  Bonsor  "  made  a  statement  as  to  the  work  of  God."  Before  twelve  months 
were  over,  he  suffered  imprisonment  for  preaching  in  the  open  air,  and  Samuel  Waller 
shares  with  Thomas  Russell  the  honour  of  having  endured  the  longest  and  most  trying 

imprisonment  recorded  in  our 
Connexional  annals.  A  subordinate 
constable,  a  renegade  Methodist, 
made  himself  obnoxiously  busy 
in  interfering  with  the  service 
held  on  the  evening  of  June  17th, 
1821.  There  was  no  disturbance, 
and  no  clear  case  of  obstruction, 
yet  Mr.  Waller  was  committed 
to  take  his  trial  at  the  Salford 
Sessions,  charged  with  :  "  Having 
in  the  King's  highway,  in 
Ashton-under-Lyne,  unlawfully 
and  injudiciously  caused  and 
procured  a  great  number  of  persons 
to  assemble  together,  obstructing 
the  said  highway,  to  the  great 
damage  and  common  nuisance  of 
the  liege  subjects  of  our  Lord  the 
King ;  and  with  making  a  noise, 
riot,  tumult,  and  disturbance ; 
and  with  making  such  riot  by 
shouting  and  singing  ;  and  wholly 
choking  up  and  obstructing  the 
street  and  highway."  Mr.  Waller 
THE  "LONG  ROOM,"  NEW  ISLINGTON,  MANCHESTER.  wa«  sentenced  to  be  imprisoned  f or 

The  entrance  is  through  the  Archway,  now  partly  closed,  at  the  right  three  months  in  Manchester  New 
end  of  building.    The  Long  Boom  is  the  top  story.  . 

Bailey,  and,  on  the  expiry  of  his 

term,  he  was  re-committed  for  six  days  in  order  to  make  up  the  three  calendar  months. 
So  far  as  the  North  of  England  is  concerned,  we  shall  meet  with  no  other  incident  like 
this  in  the  history  of  Primitive  Methodism.  Yet  no  inference  can  be  drawn  from  the 
incident  to  the  discredit  of  the  people  of  Lancashire.  On  the  contrary,  their  sense 
of  justice  was  outraged  by  the  treatment  meted  out  to  Mr.  Waller,  and  there  was  no 
lack  of  sympathy  with  the  prisoner,  who  was  seriously  ill  during  his  confinement. 
The  prison  doctor  showed  himself  either  indifferent  or  incompetent ;  but  by  the  good 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  19 

offices  of  friends  the  best  medical  aid  was  procured,  and  the  governor  of  the  jail  acted 
in  a  most  humane  manner.  It  is  clear  that  political  animus  had  more  to  do  with 
this  travesty  of  justice  than  ought  else.  The  magistrates  had  lost  their  heads.  They 
saw  signs  of  possible  riot  and  disturbance  everywhere.  The  bias  of  the  chairman  of  the 
Quarter  Sessions  was  revealed  by  the  observations  he  dropped  during  the  course  of 
the  trial ;  and,  if  what  is  alleged  be  true,  that  the  chairman  was  the  vicar  of  Eochdale, 
who  had  been  "military  leader"  on  the  black  day  of  Peterloo,  much  is  explained. 

"The  day  after  Mr.  Waller's  discharge,  Wednesday,  October  17th,  1821,  a  meeting 
was  held  at  Chancery  Lane,  when  it  appeared  this  imprisonment  had  been  the  means 
of  stirring  up  many  to  hear  the  Word,  and  on  the  whole  that  it  had  served  greatly 
to  advance  the  Redeemer's  kingdom."*  No  doubt  at  this  significant  service  there 
would  be  sung  some  of  those  special  hymns  "  On  the  Releasement  of  S.  Waller  from 
Prison,"  we  find  in  the  Magazine  for  1822..  We  do  not  catch,  in  these  hymns,  the 
triumphant  note  that  strikes  us  in  those  called  forth  by  John  Wedgwood's  Grantham 
experiences.  In  these  the  pervading  sentiment  is  one  of  chastened  thankfulness,  as 
is  seen  in  the  chorus  of  one  of  them  : — 

"  Releas'd  from  bondage,  grief,  and  pain, 
"We  meet  with  this  our  friend  again." 

One  of  the  best  of  these  hymns  was  written  by  Walton  Carter,  already  referred  to. 
He  too  encountered  the  "  backsliding  Methodist  constable,"  who  pulled  him  down  at 
Ashton  Cross  and  tore  his  clothe?.  But  though  Carter  was  brought  before  the 
magistrates  at  Oldham,  he  and  his  companion  were  dismissed.  Of  Walton  Carter's 
antecedents  we  can  glean  nothing ;  but  he  became  a  noted  missioner  in  Manchester 
and  its  neighbourhood,  and  was  our  Connexional  pioneer  in  several  towns  which  are 
now  the  head  of  important  stations.  In  fact  he  seems  to  have  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  a  travelling  preacher  in  the  Manchester  Circuit  during  the  years  1821-2,  although 
his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  official  stations ;  so  that,  although  Manchester  Circuit 
in  1821  has  only  John  Verity  down  for  it,  with  the  words  "for  six  months" 
appended,  we  need  not  suppose  that  Manchester  was  left  without  a  preacher  for  half 
the  year.  Walton  Carter  was  on  the  ground.  His  well-written  Journals  appear  side 
by  side  with  those  of  Verity  in  the  Magazine,  and  when  Verity  has  left,  Carter  is  still 
actively  engaged  in  the  circuit,  and  as  late  as  May,  1822,  sends  an  account  to  the 
Magazine  of  the  first  Oldham  camp  meeting.  In  1823  his  name  appears  on  the  stations 
for  the  first  and  last  time,  in  connection  with  Halifax.  He  retired  from  the  ministry, 
and  subsequently  became  the  proprietor  of  a  day  and  boarding  school  at  Bucklow  Hill, 
near  Knutsford.  The  breach  with  the  past  was  not  complete.  He  still  kept  in  touch 
with  Manchester ;  for  amongst  his  boarders  were  several  youths  belonging  to  Primitive 
Methodist  families  resident  in  the  city  in  which  he  had  once  rendered  good  service. 
There  is  reason  to  fear,  however,  that  his  last  days  were  not  the  brightest  and 
the  best. 

Before  the   close  of    1821,   there  were,   as  the  books  show,  in  Manchester  alone 

*  There  is  a  full  account  of  the  trial  of  S.  Waller  in  the  Magazine  for  1822,  pp.  259,  281. 
See  also  S.  Smith's  "  The  Introduction,"  etc.,  already  cited,  p.  98. 

B  2 


20 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


two  hundred  and  eleven  members.  The  progress  of  the  Society  in  other  respects  than  in 
numbers  was  marked  by  the  building,  in  1823-4,  of  Jersey  Street  Chapel,  which,  right 
through  and  beyond  the  first  period  of  our  history,  was  the  well-known  centre  of  our 
work  in  Manchester.  The  superintendent  at  the  time  was  Thomas  Sugden,  whose 
name  disappears  from  the  stations  in  1824.  He  was  not,  however,  lost  to  the 
Connexion,  but  settled  down  in  Manchester,  and  made  himself  useful  in  various  ways. 
"Thomas  Sugden,  confectioner,  Manchester,"  was  one  of  the  original  signatories  of 
the  Deed  Poll,  who  took  their  seats,  for  the  first  time,  at  the  Conference  of  1832. 
Ralph  Waller  (the  brother  of  Samuel  Waller),  cotton-spinner,  Mellor,  near  Manchester, 
was  another  of  these  original  members ;  and  when,  by  the  death  of  George  Taylor,  the 
first  vacancy  occurred  on  the  Deed  Poll,  the  Bradford  Conference  elected  Stephen 

Longdin,  of  Manchester,  to  the  office. 
Stephen  Longdin's  election  to  this  office, 
together  with  the  fact  that  his  portrait  is 
to  be  found  amongst  those  of  the  early 
Presidents  of  Conference,  along  with  the 
very  few  laymen,  such  as  George  Hanford, 
Joseph  Bailey,  and  Thomas  Bateman,  who 
are  credited  with  having  attained  to  that 
unusual  distinction,  proves  that  at  the 
time  of  his  election  to  the  chair  in  1849,  he 
was  widely  known  as  a  Connexional  man. 
Born  in  1795,  he  survived  until  1878; 
and,  as  early  as  1824,  he  had  become  a 
useful  class  leader,  and  was  giving  proof 
of  the  possession  of  unusual  preaching 
ability  and  of  special  aptitude  for  the 
administration  of  affairs,  all  which  made 
him,  through  a  long  course  of  years,  a 
leading  figure  in  Manchester  Primitive 
^  Methodism. 

OLD  JERSEY  STREET  CHAPEL,  MANCHESTER.  The  opening   services  of   Jersey  Street 

Chapel,  in  which  Hugh  Bourne  took  part, 

were  held  in  the  early  part  of  1824.  The  building  was  spacious;  the  gallery  alone 
having  accommodation  for  five  hundred  people.  "  Unfortunately  the  attendance  at 
the  subsequent  services  was  not  so  large  as  had  been  anticipated.  The  interest  on 
the  heavy  mortgage  and  the  costs  of  maintenance  pressed  seriously  on  the  limited 
resources  of  the  Society,  and  in  the  end  it  was  felt  that  the  liabilities  were  too  heavy 
to  be  carried.  The  trustees,  therefore,  determined  on  an  alteration  of  the  building. 
A  floor  was  inserted  across  the  well  of  the  gallery,  and  in  the  lower  portion  of  the 
building  dwelling-houses  were  constructed,  the  rents  of  which  materially  helped  the 
trustees  to  carry  the  financial  burden.  After  these  alterations  the  public  religious 
services  were  well  attended,  and  several  persons  who  attained  distinction  in  public 
life  became  regular  hearers.  Alderman  Walton  Smith,  Mr.  Joseph  Nail,  Councillor 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


21 


1 — 1SANP50N.TURNER1— ' 


PRESIDENTS  OF   CONFERENCE  UNTIL  1849,    AS   FAR  AS   RECORDED. 


22  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

Gregory  Alcock,  and  the  Waller  family  were  for  a  long  period  among  the  stated 
worshippers."  * 

The  structural,  brick-and-mortar  history  of  Jersey  Street,  of  Canaan  Street,  of 
West  Street,  or  any  other  of  the  historic  chapels  of  Primitive  Methodism  is  the  least 
important  part  of  its  history  to  be  recalled.  The  main  thing  to  be  recognised  is  the 
body  of  rich  and  constantly  multiplying  associations  that  for  so  many  people  gathered 
round  the  building ;  the  large  place  it  filled  in  the  better  part  of  the  lives  of  so  many ; 
the  memories  arid  the  talks  by  the  fireside  of  the  men  who  ministered  or  were 
ministered  unto  within  its  walls ;  the  historic  meetings,  the  notable  texts  and  sermons, 
the  remarkable  conversions,  the  rousing  prayer-meetings,  the  inspiring  hymns,  the 
love-feast  experiences ;  the  institutional  Saturday-night  band-meeting,  for  which  even 
the  country  people  would  steal  an  hour  from  their  marketing ;  even  the  traits  and 
oddities  and  outstanding  features  in  the  characters  of  the  habitual  frequenters  of  the 
sanctuary,  remembered  all  the  more  vividly  when  they  are  gone — all  this  constitutes 
the  true  history  of  the  plain  old  building  now  no  more,  and  explains  the  hold  it  got 
on  the  hearts  and  imaginations  of  men,  and  yet  all  this  has  to  be  conceived  rather 
than  described  in  relation  to  Jersey  Street,  which  was  the  ganglion— the  nerve-centre 
of  our  denominational  life  in  Manchester  for  so  long  a  term  of  years. 

Two  Conferences  were  held  in  Jersey  Street — that  of  1827,  of  which  we  know 
a  little,  and  that  of  1840,  of  which  we  know  next  to  nothing.  At  the  former  there 
were  five  o'clock  morning  preachings,  a  procession  through  a  large  part  of  the  town  to 
the  camp-ground  near  the  workhouse,  and  in  the  evening  there  was  held  what  may  be 
called  an  In  Memoriam  service  for  James  Steele,  who  had  died  but  a  few  days  before 
the  opening  of  Conference.  W.  Clowes  would  have  taken  a  leading  part  in  this 
service  but  for  the  fact  that  he  was  then,  and  had  been  for  some  time,  in  an  indifferent 
state  of  health.  As  it  was,  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Hugh  Bourne  and  Thomas  King  to 
speak  of  the  life  and  death  of  this  honoured  servant  of  God.  In  his  Journal,  however, 
Clowes  tells  how  he  had  visited  James  Steele — whom  he  designates  "  one.  of  the 
founders  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion" — only  a  few  minutes  before  he 
expired.  He  records  how,  though  the  sands  of  the  hour-glass  were  fast  running  out, 
the  good  man  "  entered  freely  into  conversation  respecting  the  work  of  the  Lord," 
and  how,  when  asked  if  his  faith  stood  firm,  he  replied  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist, 
"  I  will  not  forsake  thee  when  thy  faith  faileth." 

An  administrative  change  of  some  importance  was  effected  at  this  Conference. 
A  new  district  was  formed  out  of  some  of  the  frontier  stations  of  Tunstall,  Nottingham, 
and  Hull  Districts,  and  of  this  new  district  Manchester  was  made  the  head.  Towards 
the  formation  Nottingham  gave  New  Mills,  and  a  year  after  Bradwell ;  Hull  gave 
Preston,  Blackburn,  Clitheroe,  and  Keighley ;  while  the  mother-district  contributed 
Preston  Brook,  Liverpool,  and  Chester,  together  with  Manchester  and  its  daughter- 
circuits  Oldham  and  Bolton,  and  Bolton's  own  child — the  Isle  of  Man.  Thus  it  will 
be  seen  at  a  glance,  that  Manchester  District  was  made  rather  than  grew.  A  new 
district  was  created,  as  it  were  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  for  administrative  purposes, 

*  Communicated  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Parker. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  23 

out  of  circuits  of  diverse  origin.  It  is  not,  therefore,  Avith  the  beginnings  of  the 
Conference-created  Manchester  District  of  1827  this  chapter  has  to  do,  but  rather 
with  the  Manchester  district  of  to-day,  made  up,  as  for  the  most  part  it  is,  of  circuits 
of  which  Manchester  was  the  nucleus.  If  the  time  should  come,  as  possibly  it  may, 
when  the  circuits  which  grew  out  of  Hull's  North  Lancashire  mission  shall  become 
a  separate  district  with,  say,  Preston  as  its  titular  head,  then  there  will  be  something 
like  a  reversion,  and  district  arrangements  will  in  a  striking  way  conform  to  the  facts 
of  our  history,  which  show  how  the  ground  now  covered  by  the  present  Manchester 
and  Liverpool  Districts  was  first  missioned  by  a  triple  agency. 

"THE  REMISSIONING  SYSTEM"  AND  "THE  Pious  PRAYING  LABOURERS" 

OF  MANCHESTER. 

The  four  years  following  1832  were  for  Manchester,  as  they  were  for  the  Connexion 
generally,  a  period  of  remarkable  numerical  increase.  During  this  period  the  member- 
ship of  the  Manchester  Circuit  rose  from  five  hundred  and  eighty-four  in  1832,  to 
one  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty  in  1836,  and  the  circuit  more  than  doubled 
the  number  of  its  travelling  preachers.  Doubtless,  the  same  general  causes  that 
wrought  for  improvement  in  other  parts  of  the  Connexion  produced  their  salutary 
effects  here  also.  The  Church  was  all  the  healthier  ahd  stronger  for  service  because 
of  the  time  of  trial  and  sifting  through  which  it  had  passed.  Over  and  above  these 
widely  distributed  causes,  however,  there  was  a  special  cause  largely  accountable  for 
local  success,  to  which  Hugh  Bourne  thus  alludes  in  his  Journal : — 

"  July  30th,  1832. — Came  to  Manchester,  ten  miles  by  the  railway.  Saw  brothers 
Butcher,  Brame,  and  Gibson  [the  travelling  preachers],  and  was  thankful  to  hear 
of  there  being  an  excellent  revival  at  Rochdale,  in  this  Circuit ;  and  that  the 
converting  work  is  on  the  move  in  the  Jersey  Street  Chapel  in  Manchester.  I  was 
also  thankful  to  hear  that  the  pious  praying  labourers  in  Manchester  have  entered 
on  the  open-air  system  with  vigour  and  effect.  I  do  trust  that  this  system  will 
find  its  way  into  all  the  circuits." 

Who  were  these  pious,  praying  labourers,  and  what  was  the  open-air  system  they 
practised?  First  in  order  amongst  the  names  "to  be  had  in  respectful  remembrance"  must 
be  placed  the  venerable  Thomas  Hewitt,  in  whose  house  in  London  Square,  Banktop, 
the  first  class  met  in  Manchester,  and  from  whose  doorstep  the  first  missionary  preached. 
He  remained  firm  to  the  end  of  life,  and  zealous  in  his  attachment  to  the  Connexion ; 
and  his  eldest  son,  who  likewise  bore  the  name  of  Thomas,  was  for  some  time  the 
efficient  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School. 

Of  Jonathan  Heywood,  whom  S.  Smith  describes  as  "  a  mighty  man  in  prayer,"  we 
have  a  short  pen-and-ink  sketch  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Parker : — "  Jonathan  Heywood,  an  old 
man,  full  of  song,  a  joyful  Christian,  exerted  a  strong  religious  influence  during  many 
years.  He  was  somewhat  diminutive  of  stature,  but  showed  much  quickness,  alertness, 
even  nimbleness.  He  was  always  ready  for  the  spiritual  fray.  When  speaking  or 
singing  he  seemed  as  though  set  on  springs,  and  with  a  thin,  shrill  voice,  but  with 
intense  fervour  and  power  he  sought  to  help  men  by  holy  song  into  the  kingdom  of 


24 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


God.     For  many  years  before  his  death  he  was  a  complete  invalid,  and  a  great  sufferer, 
but  in  all  his  affliction  he  witnessed  a  good  confession,  and  died  in  triumph." 

Another  member  of   the  goodly  fellowship  of  workers  was  Thomas  Holden,  who, 
Mr.  Parker  tells  us,  at  an  early  date  in  the  history  of  the  society,  came  from  Todd 
Hall,  near  Haslingden,  and  was,  for  thirty  years,  a  most  successful 
class  leader.      "  His  was  a  constant  and  conspicuous  figure  in  the 
congregation  of  Jersey  Street.     His  fine,  manly  form  and  his  sweet 
but  powerful  voice  made  him  a  desirable  leader  in  open-air  work. 
A  prayer  meeting  without  his  presence  or  without  his  prayer  was 
not  to  be  thought  of."     When  James  Holden,  his  eldest  son,  at  last 
yielded  to  the  convictions  he  had  long  resisted,  that  son's  demonstra- 
tions of  joy  at  his  new-found  liberty  were  like  those  of  the  healed 
paralytic,   or   like    theirs    whose    captivity   was   turned.       Others 
rejoiced  with  him  in  song  and  shouts  of  triumph.      The   scene 
MR.  JAMES  HOLDEN.       was  one  nofc  easily  to  be  forgotten,  and  was  often  recalled.     James 
Holden  retained  his  active  connection  with  Jersey  Street  until  his  lamented  death 
in  1896. 

As  recently  as  1901,  there  passed  away  one  whose  life  more  than  covered  the  entire 
history  of  Manchester  Primitive  Methodism.  As  a  girl,  Mrs.  Hannah  Me  Kee  received 
her  first  class-ticket  in  1824,  and  was  thus  the  contemporary  of  them  who  formed  the 
remissioning  bands,  and  she  may  well  have  assisted  in  their  efforts.  Not  on  this 
ground  alone  does  she  merit  reference  here,  but  because,  for  sixty  years,  she  was 
a  teacher  in  Jersey  Street  and  New  Islington  Sunday  Schools;  a  contributor  on  a 
somewhat  large  scale  to  the  funds  of  the  Church ;  at  the  time  of  her  death  the  oldest 
Primitive  Methodist  in  Manchester ;  and  because  she  has  left  descendants,  even  to  the 
fourth  generation,  who  are  closely  associated  with  our  denomination. 

Jonathan  Ireland  was  undoubtedly  the  leader  of  the  band.  It  was  from  him 
Hugh  Bourne  learned  the  facts  about  the  "  remissioning  system," 
which  he  gave  at  length  in  the  Magazine  for  1835 ;  and  though 
no  names  are  mentioned  (by  J.  I.'s  own  request,  it  is  said)  it  is 
clear  that  Hugh  Bourne  regarded  him  as  the  "founder"  and 
leading  spirit  of  the  movement.  Jonathan  Ireland  was  by  aptitude 
and  preference  "a  determined  street-preacher,"  as  he  has  been 
well  called.  He  began  his  religious  life  in  association  with  the 
Church  of  England,  in  "  gay  Preston."  But  even  then  his  native 
bent  showed  itself.  He  was  restive  under  restrictions.  The 
contemplative  life  had  no  charms  for  him ;  nor  could  the 
observance  of  routine,  however  decorous,  satisfy.  He  must  do 
something,  and  something  out  of  the  common.  So  he  rang 
the  church  bells,  and  planted  shrubs  in  the  churchyard.  He  even  took  part  in  house 
prayer  meetings,  where  each  one  read  his  prayer  out  of  the  book ;  and  once,  when  he 
made  a  burst  into  free  prayer,  he  chastised  himself  by  self-reproaches  for  having  given 
way  to  what  was  Methodistic  and  improper.  But  he  broke  free  from  his  fetters,  and 
became  a  Methodist  and  a  successful  class  leader,  and  an  active  sick  visitor.  Then  he 


MRS.    HANNAH    MC  KEE. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  25 

came  to  Manchester,  and- found  his  true  vocation  when  he  joined  the  Primitives.  This 
was  in  November,  1823,  when  Jersey  Street  Chapel  was  a-building. 

When,  in  1832,  Manchester,  like  so  many  other  towns  and  cities,  was  being  ravaged 
by  the  cholera,  Jonathan  Ireland  was  moved  to  put  forth  special  efforts  to  carry  the 
gospel  of  salvation  and  consolation  into  the  "  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city."  He  was 
nobly  seconded  by  Jonathan  Heywood,  Thomas  Hewitt,  and  others  like-minded'.  Their 
method  was,  beginning  at  the  house-door  of  one  of  the  band,  to  go  singing  through 
the  streets  to  a  suitable  stand  in  some  populous  quarter,  and  then  halt,  while  a  short, 
pointed  exhortation  was  given.  The  like  procedure  was  repeated  again  and  again, 
until  the  time  for  morning  or  evening  service  had  come,  when  they  sang  their  way 
to  the  chapel.  These  remissioning  efforts  were  continued  all  through  that  fateful 
summer  with  good  results ;  but — and  this  is  the  noteworthy  thing — they  were  not 
laid  aside  when  the  cholera  had  ceased  its  ravages.  Each  time  the  cholera  has  visited 
this  country  it  has  swollen  our  annual  returns  on  the  right  side.  An  increase  of  7120 
stands  to  the  credit  of  1833  ;  and  the  increase  for  1850,  following  upon  the  fearful 
visitation  of  1848-9,  when  more  than  five  thousand  persons  perished,  was  still  higher, 
amounting  to  9205,  a  figure  never  reached  before  or  since.  But  closer  scrutiny  would 
show  that  in  some  localities,  the  year  of  ingathering  was  followed  by  a  year  of  wastage; 
that  re-action  followed  revival ;  that  many  whom  the  cholera  had  frightened  into  the 
Church  rather  than  driven  to  Christ,  withdrew ;  and  that  even  the  Church  itself,  now 
that  the  scourge  was  overpast,  too  frequently  relaxed  its  efforts  to  save  men.  But,  as 
we  have  said,  it  was  not  so  in  Manchester ;  rather  was  remissioning  carried  on  more 
energetically  than  before. 

The  planting  of  our  Church  in  Salford  grew  out  of  the  unremitting  efforts  of 
Jonathan  Ireland  and  his  co-workers.  The  first  headquarters  were  in  a  room  in 
Dale  Street;  then,  in  1844,  King  Street  Chapel  was  opened  (afterwards  Blackfriars 
Street,  and  now  Camp  Street,  Broughton).  One  cannot  read  Jonathan  Ireland's 
"Autobiography"*  without  being  impressed  with  his  tireless  zeal  and,  no  less,  with 
his  tact  and  resourcefulness.  He  was  a  true  disciple  of  Hugh  Bourne  in  never  failing 
to  notice  the  children.  Even  the  slatterns  and  viragos  of  a  "mean  street"  were 
mollified,  as  they  saw  the  preacher  shaking  hands  with  the  bairns  at  the  close  of  a 
service.  When  he  went  into  an  Irish  quarter,  he  knew  better  than  to  lead  off  with 
a  denunciation  of  the  Pope  and  all  his  works.  He  sought  rather  to  begin  by  finding 
some  common  ground  of  agreement  with  his  hearers.  One  quotation  we  will  give,  to 
show  his  methods  and  the  kind  of  work  that  was  being  done  during  those  earlier 
years : — 

;<  One  Sunday  morning  at  nine  o'clock  (it  was  the  Sunday  following  the  races, 
and  so  drunkenness  was  peculiarly  prevalent),  I  went  into  Wood  Street,  which 
runs  out  of  Brown  Street,  to  mission,  several  friends  being  with  me.  When  I  got 
up  to  preach  I  looked  at  the  people,  and  cried  out :  '  You  are  a  sorry  set,  without 
comfort  and  character ;  no  credit,  for  nobody  will  trust  you  a  farthing.  Now, 
I'm  here  as  your  friend ;  and  I'll  tell  you  a  way  in  which  you  may,  in  twelve 

*"  Jonathan  Ireland,  the  Street  Preacher.  An  Autobiography."  Edited  by  Rev.  J.  Simpson, 
his  son-in-law. 


26  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

months  have  a  good  suit  of  clothes,  goods  in  your  home,  money  in  your  pockets, 
and  comfort  in  your  families.'  This  got  hold  of  their  minds;  and  I  held  them 
fast  while  I  preached  Jesus  unto  them.  I  had  to  preach  that  same  morning  in 
the  room  [in  Salford].  When  I  had  finished  in  the  street  I  invited  all  to  go 
with  me  just  as  they  were.  Many  yielded,  so  I  gave  them  a  second  edition. 
But  while  I  had  been  engaged  outside  a  man  came  up,  and  calling  one  of  the 
members  to  him,  he  said  :  '  I'm  glad  I've  met  with  you  this  morning.  Your  singing 
attracted  me ;  for  I  was  on  the  way  to  the  old  river,  where,  in  some  secret  spot, 
I  might  end  my  miserable  life  by  cutting  my  throat.  Take  this,'  said  the  man, 
handing  forward  a  razor,  '  for  if  you  have  it  I  shall  have  one  temptation  less 
to  grapple  with.'" — (p.. 41). 

But  even  before  the  establishment  of  the  Salford  mission  there  already  existed 
another  mission-centre  in  Oxford  Road.  First  a  small  cottage,  then  a  small  cellar, 
then  a  room  over  some  stables,  next  a  larger  room  once  used  by  the  Tent-Methodists. 
Such  was  the  order.  On  the  opening  of  this  room,  while  Thomas  Sugden  was  leading 
the  love-feast,  the  floor  fell  in,  and  the  story  goes  that  the  mishap  occurred  while  all 
were  lustily  singing,  "We  are  going  home  to  glory."  One  man  was  injured,  and 
many  were  frightened.  The  next  remove  was  to  a  building  in  Ormond  Street,  vacated 
by  the  Wesleyans  for  their  new  chapel  in  Oxford  Road.  Ultimately  this  was  exchanged 
for  Rosamond  Street  Chapel,  which  for  many  years  stood  as  the  head  of  Manchester 
Second  Circuit,  now  Moss  Lane. 

Yet  a  third  mission  was  begun  in  these  formative  years,  in  a  room  over  three  houses  in 
Ashton  Street,  London  Road — now  swept  away  by  the  London  Road  Station.  The 
friend  who  had  leased  the  room  to  the  society  at  a  low  rental,  at  his  death  left  the  sum 
of  £130  for  a  new  chapel,  "if  a  new  chapel  should  ever  be  required  by  the  Primitive 
Methodist  denomination  in  Manchester  "  ! — another  proof  of  the  doubt  as  to  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Connexion  that  crossed  arid  troubled  the  minds  at  that  time,  even  of  those 
who  were  friendly  disposed.  Mr.  Chadwick's  legacy  came  in  useful  as  a  kind  of  nest- 
egg.  More  chapels  ivere  built  in  Manchester,  as  our  full-page  illustration  shows,  and 
there  are  more  to  follow.  Ogden  Street  Chapel,  opened  in  1850,  superseded  Ashton 
Street  room,  and  from  this  has  grown  Manchester  Fourth  and  Ninth  Stations,  with  the 
exception  of  Droylesden,  taken  from  Stockport  Second  and  attached  to  Manchester 
Ninth,  on  its  formation  in  1893.  Good  Mr.  Chadwick's  doubts  as  to  whether  the 
Primitives  would  ever  build  a  new  ch.apel  in  Manchester,  have  had  their  answer  in 
Higher  Ardwick  Church,  opened  in  1878 ;  and  there  was  a  natural  sequence  between 
the  £15,000  expended  on  that  stately  pile  and  the  £130  he  somewhat  timorously  put 
down  in  his  last  will  and  testament.  Thus,  while  a  survey  of  the  denomination's 
advance  in  Manchester  during  recent  years,  especially  in  its  relation  to  ministerial 
education  and  training,  will  naturally  challenge  our  attention  later  on,  it  was  right 
that  we  should,  even  at  this  stage,  at  least  indicate  the  thread  of  continuity  running 
through  our  Connexional  life  in  this  great  city.  What  we  now  see  is  largely  the  , 
outcome  of  the  missionary  efforts  carried  on  so  vigorously  during  the  first  period. 

We  began  with  Manchester  at  the  New  Cross,  and,  so  far  as  Manchester  itself  is 
concerned,  we  may  fittingly  end  there.  "  The  New  Cross  (open  air) "  stands  as  the 
second  place  on  a  plan  for  1832,  and  a  Sunday  afternoon  service  was  held  where  the  old 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


27 


28 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


pillar  once  stood,  right  on  until  the  days  of  the  Chartist  agitation,  when  the  authorities 
put  their  veto  on  al  fresco  meetings — political  or  religious — at  that  favourite  stand. 
The  magisterial  mind  of  that  epoch  could  not  make  subtle  distinctions. 

It  was  by  lingering  at  one  of  these  New  Cross  services  when  returning  from  Oldham 


REV.    T.    HINULEY. 


KACHEL    WHITEHEAIJ. 


MR.    NATHANIEL   XAYLOK. 


Street  Wesleyan  Chapel,  which  they  attended,  that  Nathaniel  Naylor  and  his  wife  fell 
in  love  with  the  Primitives.  They  thought  it  right  to  join  the  denomination,  and 
became  active  workers  and  liberal  supporters  of  the  Jersey  Street  and  New  Islington 
societies.  The  youngest  daughter  of  the  house  became  the  wife  of  Thomas  Hindley,  so 
widely  known  and  respected  as  a  minister  in  the  Manchester  District.  There  are  other 
names  of  early  workers,  that  ought  to  be  more  than  names  to  us,  but  space  forbids  little 
more  than  the  mention  of  them.  There  were :  John  Turner,  for  many  years  the 
courteous,  prudent,  efficient  choir-master ;  Thomas  Sharrock,  an  early  Sunday  School 
superintendent,  much  beloved,  though  he  had  an  awe-inspiring  presence  and  the  reputa- 
tion of  knowing  more  than  most ;  W.  Williams,  Thomas  Sugden's  successor  in  the 
confectionery  business,  circuit  secretary  and  afterwards  steward,  a  thoughtful,  acceptable 
preacher,  and  a  good  District  and  Connexional  man,  at  whose  house,  in  Ancoat's  Lane, 
ministers  and  friends  from  a  distance  would  drop  in  for  rest  and  talk  ;  Samuel  Johnson, 
a  local  preacher  for  many  years,  a  man  of  wide  reading  and  large  outlook,  whose 
discourses  were  listened  to  with  interest  and  profit  by  many  Lancashire  congrega- 
tions ;  Barnabas  Parker,  Charles  Malpas  also, 
and  Job  Williams,  and  Eachel  Whitehead, 
and  John  Crompton,  and  Charles  Taylor,  who, 
in  their  several  spheres,  lived  the  Christian 
life  and  served  the  interests  of  Jersey  Street 
Society. 

This  brief  chronicle  of  departed  worth  may 
pleasantly  end  with  a  reference  to  good  but 
eccentric  David  Bailey,  of  whose  devotion 
and  oddities  tradition  still  loves  to  speak. 
He  would  "  shut  to  the  door  "  even  of  his 
shop  while  he  retired  for  prayer,  and  so 
immersed  himself  in  evangelistic  work  that  his  brethren  feared  his  business  would 
suffer;  he  was  a  dealer  in  earthenware  near  Shudehill  Market,  and  his  superin- 


MR.    8.    JOHNSON. 


MR.    C.    TAYLOR. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND   ENTERPRISE. 


29 


tendent  was  appointed  to  admonish  him.  "David,"  said  Rev.  W.  Antliff,  "are  you 
never  afraid  you'll  break  1 "  "  Break  ? "  said  "  Pot "  David  ;  "  not  till  the  fiftieth  Psalm 
breaks  at  the  fifteenth  verse,  '  Call  upon  Me  in  the  day  of  trouble,  and  I  will  deliver 
thee.'"  The  answer  was  distinctly  good,  though  it  is  to  be  feared  David  put  a  strain 
upon  the  promise  it  was  never  intended  to  bear. 

SALE;  WALK.DEN  MOOR;  MIDDLETON. 

Though,  for   the   time  being,   we  have  done  with  Manchester  city,    we  have  not 
quite    done    with    Manchester    Circuit.      At    first,    as    has    already    been    intimated 


SALE   CHAPEL   AND    SCHOOLS. 


MR.  JOHN  E.   WRIGHT. 


Manchester  Circuit  was  almost  the  first  rough  draft  of  the 
Manchester  District  of  to-day.  Important  circuits  were  formed 
from  it  at  an  early  date ;  but  at  present  our  concern  is  not  with 
these,  but  rather  with  one  or  two  places  that  were  missioned 
at  an  early  date  and  continued  to  be  an  integral  part  of  the 
Manchester  Circuit  all  through  the  first  period,  though  now,  in 
nearly  every  case,  they  have  become  heads  of  circuits. 

Sale,  we  are  told,  was  missioned  as  early  as  1824-5.  At 
that  time  the  people  around  were  "  uncommonly  rough  and  igno- 
rant," and  being  chiefly  employed  in  market-gardening,  domestic 


30 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


REV.    JAMES  GARNER. 


work  was  left  over  until  the  Sunday.  The  mission  to  Sale  was  opened  by  a  notable 
camp-meeting  held  in  a  hired  field.  Early  in  the  day  the  converting  work 
broke  out,  and  the  number  of  mourners  was  so  great  that  a  corner  of  the  field 

was  set  apart  for  the  holding  of  a  continuous  prayer  meeting 
while  the  camp-meeting  was  still  going  on.  This  corner, 
appropriately  named  "the  hospital," was  placed  under  the 
superintendence  of  Thomas  Buttler,  a  man  of  experience, 
who  single-handed  did  much  successful  pioneer  work  in 
the  country-side.  "  This  day's  labour  led  to  results 
which  were  felt  all  over  the  neighbourhood.  A  visible 
reformation  of  manners  followed."  A  Primitive  Methodist 
society  was  formed,  and  "the  Wesleyans  were  quickened 
and  became  prosperous."*  A  school  chapel  was  erected 
in  1839,  and  the  present  church  and  school  in  1872. 
The  greater  part  of  the  manual  and  team  labour  involved 
in  the  taking  down  of  the  old  building  was  undertaken 
by  those  most  deeply  interested  in  the  work,  amongst 
whom  may  be  named,  the  Bellis  family,  Messrs.  James  Oakes,  Samuel  Derbyshire, 
and  John  E.  Wright.  The  last  named,  from  the  time  of  his  joining  the  Church, 
to  his  death  in  1890,  conscientiously  fulfilled  the  duties  of  his  various  offices. 

Sale  will  always  be  associated  with  the  memory  of  James  Garner,  one  of  the  most 
massive  and  outstanding  figures  of  the  Manchester  District.  By  virtue  of  a  rare 
combination  of  qualities  he  was  equally  eminent  in  the  pulpit,  the  committee  room, 
the  floor  of  Conference,  the  presidential  chair,  and  the  author's  desk.  Thirty- four 
out  of  the '  thirty-six  years  of  his  circuit  ministry  were  spent  in  the  old  Manchester 
District,  and  about  one  half  of  these  in  the  cities  of 
Liverpool  and  Manchester.  He  began  his  ministry 
in  1830  as  the  junior  colleague  of  his  brother, 
John  Garner,  in  the  Oldham  Circuit,  and  it  was 
at  the  Oldham  Conference  of  1871  he  was  super- 
annuated. He  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  at 
Sale,  where  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  James  Greenhalgh, 
accountant  and  Connexional  auditor,  resided.  He 
was  superintendent  at  the  time  the  first  chapel  at 
Sale '  was  built,  and  he  took  a  deep  and  practical  in- 
terest in  the  building  of  the  present  church.  Before 
the  end  came,  December,  1895,  in  a  momentary  lapse, 
he  was  heard  to  say :  "  Well,  Mr.  Bourne,  I  am 
glad  to  see  you.  How  is  the  Connexion  doing  ? " 
Consciousness  had  harked  back  to  the- early  times,  and 
the  master-passion  of  life  was  strong  in  death. 

On  the  Manchester  Circuit  plan  for  1832  we  find,  amongst  other  places,  Mosley 
Common,  Walkden  Moor,  Middleton,  Unsworth,  and  Stretford ;  and,  now  and  again, 

*  See  "  Jonathan  Ireland,  the  Street  Preacher,"  for  the  quotations  given  in  this  paragraph. 


MR.    J.    GREENHALGH. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  31 

an  incident  can  be  recovered  having  its  value  as  illustrating  the  missionary  activity 
going  on  in  these  localities.  At  Walkden  Moor,  one  of  the  first  trophies  of  grace  to 
be  won  was  H.  Gibson.  Ill  at  ease  under  what  seems  to  have  been  incipient 
conviction  of  sin,  he  had  enlisted  into  the  First  Life  Guards,  thinking  that  surely 
so  complete  a  change  as  this  would  give  him  peace.  But  he  was  no  happier  at 
Whitehall  than  at  Walkden  Moor,  and  he  was  glad  when,  his  father  having  purchased 
his  discharge,  he  was  free  to  return  to  his  home.  His  old  acquaintances  welcomed 
him  effusively,  and  he  was  soon  enticed  to  match  his  bird  at  a  cock-fight  for  ten 
shillings  a  side.  His  bird  lay  dying  on  the  floor  and,  as  he  knelt  before  it,  it  came 
to  him  in  a  flash  how  he  had  knelt  in  the  stable  at  Whitehall  and  promised  God  that 
if  He  would  deliver  him  from  soldiering  he  would  lead  a  better  life.  He  had  broken 
his  vow ;  but  perhaps  it  was  not  yet  too  late.  He  would  keep  it  now.  He  rose, 
threw  down  his  money,  and  fled  from  the  pandemonium.  His  pals  pursued  him 
with  entreaties  to  return,  but,  like  Pilgrim  escaping  from  the  City  of  Destruction, 
he  hastened  away,  crying,  "  No,  no  !  Farewell,  cock-pit ! "  Not  even  yet  did  Gibson 
find  peace.  Like  John  Oxtoby,  he  was  a  Churchman  of  a  kind,  and  Mr.  Cry,  the 
curate,  prescribed  for  him:  "Attend  the  church  and  sacraments  regularly";  for  is 
not  that  the  whole  duty  of  man?  Then,  hearing  that  J.  Verity  was  to  preach  at 
"old  Charlotte's"  at  Waterbeach,  Gibson  went  to  the  service,  but  instead  of  Verity 
he  heard  a  labouring  man  "with  blue  hands,"  who  showed  him  his  own  heart,  and 
what  it  was  that  really  ailed  him.  H.  Gibson  was  converted,  held  on  his  way,  and 
became  a  local  preacher. 

At  Middleton  (since  1872  the  head  of  a  circuit),  the  first  chapel-keeper  was 
John  Taylor,  who  had  been  a  notorious  pigeon-flyer  and  "hush-seller,"  i.e.,  keeper 
of  an  unlicensed  beer-house.  He  was  reached  by  some  straight  talk  at  an  open-air 
service,  at  the  outskirts  of  which  the  pigeon-flyers  were  standing  discussing  to-morrow's 
match.  Jonathan  Ireland,  who  delighted  in  facts,  was  telling  the  story  of  this  man's 
conversion,  at  a  missionary  meeting  in  Jersey  Street  some  time  after,  when  Taylor  rose 
up  before  him  in  the  congregation  and  shouted,  "I'm  the  man." 

The  way  into  Gatley  (now  in  the  Stockport  Circuit),  we  are  told,  was  opened  by 
Thomas  Buttler,  whom  we  have  seen  superintending  the  "  hospital "  at  the  first  camp- 
meeting  at  Sale.  Buttler  went  about  the  country  prospecting,  seeking  the  most  likely 
places  in  which  to  open  a  mission.  As  he  rode  his  ass  from  village  to  village,  he 
claimed  exemption  from  paying  toll  on  the  ground  that  he  was  doing  the  Lord's  work. 
If,  on  the  Sabbath,  he  heard  the  loom  at  work  in  a  house  as  he  went  along,  he  would 
enter  and  rebuke  the  Sabbath-breaker.  Buttler  found  his  way  to  Gatley;  and  the 
result  of  our  labours  there  was  a  great  reformation,  which  led  the  farmers  to  say  : 
"  These  people  deserve  encouragement,  for  since  they  came  our  apples  are  not  stolen, 
nor  our  hedges  broken  down." 

OUR  EARLY  HYMNS  :  THEIR  POPULARITY  WITH  THE  MASSES. 

Such  missionary  anecdotes  as  these  show  the  kind  of  work  that  went  on  in  the  early 
days,  and  the  kind  of  work  that,  above  all,  needed  to  be  done ;  and  here  in  Lancashire 
we  are  struck,  as  we  were  in  writing  of  the  Leicestershire  revival,  with  the  prodigious 


32 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


numbers  the  missionaries  got  to  hear  them,  and  with  the  almost  entire  absence  of 
persecution.  At  Bolton — at  the  stocks  and  in  the  wood-yard  where  the  first  services 
were  held, — at  Ash  ton  Town  Cross,  at  Astley,  at  Oldham. — in  fact  wherever  the 
missionaries  went,  they  had  no  difficulty  in  gathering  congregations.  In  the  estimates 
of  numbers  given  the  word  thousands  occurs  much  more  frequently  than  hundreds. 
"  Preach  !  preach  ! "  was  the  cry  raised  at  Ashton  Cross  when,  for  a  moment,  the 
backslidden  constable  had  silenced  "Walton  Carter.  The  people  were  hungry  for  the 
Word  and  would  not  be  denied,  so  that  Carter  had  to  gather  himself  together  and 
preach,  despite  his  torn  coat  and  the  constable's  threats.  Here  too,  as  elsewhere, 
facts  go  to  show  that  the  hymns  the  missionaries  sang  counted  for  much  in  making 


PREACHING   AT   BOLTON    MARKET    CROSS    IN   THE   OLDEN   TIME. 

their  street-missioning  and  open-air  services  acceptable 
and  effective.  Our  fathers  knew  the  power  there  is  in 
a  taking  melody,  and  were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of 
this  power.  Like  William  Jefferson,  they  did  not  see  why 
the  devil  should  have  all  the  best  tunes,  and  so  did 
their  best  to  carry  off  the  spoil.  "  The  Lion  of  Judah  " 
was  only  one  of  many  tunes  thus  requisitioned.  One 
evening,  when  the  eccentric  Henry  Higgenson  was  on  his 
way  to  a  tea  meeting  at  Walsall,  he  heard  a  lad  singing 
a  song  which  attracted  him.  "  Here,  my  lad,  sing  that 
again,  and  I'll  give  thee  a  penny."  The  lad  did  as  he 
REV.  HENRY  HIGGENSON.  was  told,  more  than  once.  "  Here  you  are,,  my  man,"  said 
Higgenson,  throwing  him  the  penny ;  "  I've  got  the  tune,  and  the  devil  may  take  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  33 

words."  The  policy,  if  it  were  policy  and  not  rather  a  sure  instinct,  was  justified  by  its 
results,  and  perhaps  nowhere  more  than  in  Lancashire,  as  Jonathan  Ireland  clearly  admits. 
The  admission  may  well  be  given  in  his  own  words,  as  the  remarks  show  considerable 
acuteness,  and  contain  a  kindly  reference  to  Kichard  Jukes,  who,  although  he  was 
a  prolific  and  popular  hymn-writer  of  his  day,  is  in  some  danger  of  being  forgotten : — 

"  Before  the  Primitive  Methodists  came  to  this  city  [Manchester],  and  for  some 
time  after,  it  was  very  common  to  hear  lewd  or  ribald  songs  sung  in  the  streets, 
especially  on  the  Lord's  day.  But  our  movements  drove  them  away  by  putting  some- 
thing better  in  their  place.  We  used  to  pick  up  the  most  effective  tunes  we  heard, 
and  put  them  to  our  hymns  ;  and  at  our  camp-meetings  people,  chiefly  young 
ones,  used  to  run  up  to  hear  us,  thinking  we  were  singing  a  favourite  song.  But 
they  were  disappointed  therein ;  nevertheless,  they  were  arrested  and  often 
charmed  by  the  hymn,  which  at  times  went  with  power  to  their  hearts.  And  so 
the  words  of  the  hymn  put  aside  the  words  of  the  song.  It  will  show  the  utility 
of  singing  lively  hymns  in  the  streets ;  yea,  more  particularly,  it  will  show  the 
use  to  society  in  general  of  our  hymn-singing  in  the  streets,  if  I  here  relate 
a  fact  which  was  told  me  by  a  friend  on  whose  veracity  and  accuracy  I  can  place 
reliance.  He  said  :  'I  was  one  day  in  a  hair-dresser's  shop  in  a  country  village, 
when  a  man  came  in  to  be  shaved,  having  a  handful  of  printed  hymns,  which 
he  had  been  singing  and  selling  in  the  streets.  I  entered  into  conversation  with 
him,  in  course  of  which  he  said  :  "Your  Jukes  has  been  a  good  friend  to  us  street- 
singers  ;  I  have  sung  lots  of  his  hymns,  and  made  many  a  bright  shilling  thereby. 
People  generally  would  rather  hear  a  nice  hymn  sung,  than  a  foolish  song, — and 
his  hymns  are  full  of  sympathy  and  life.  Depend  on  it,  the  singing  of  hymns  in 
the  streets  has  done  a  deal  of  good  ;  for  children  stand  to  listen  to  us,  and  they 
get  hold  of  a  few  lines,  or  of  the  chorus  ;  and  with  the  tune,  or  as  much  of  it  as 
they  can  think  of,  they  run  home,  and  for  days  they  sing  it  in  their  homes,  and 
their  mothers  and  sisters  get  hold  of  it,  and  in  this  way,  I  maintain,  OUF  hymn- 
singing  is  of  more  use  than  many  folks  think.  I  shall  always  think  well  of 
Jukes,"  concluded  the  man." 

What  Primitive  Methodist  will  not  heartily  concur  in  this  conclusion  of  the 
philosophic  street  singer?  "Jukes'  hymns  have  been  sung  from  one  end  of  the 
Connexion  to  the  other,  by  tramps  in  the  street  and  Christians  in  the  chapels ;  and 
the  late  Dr.  Massie  says,  the  hymn  entitled,  '  What's  the  News,'  &c.,  has  been  sung 
and  repeated  in  the  great  Kevival  in  Ireland."*  George  Herbert 
told  us  long  since  that: — 

"  A  verse  may  find  him  who  a  sermon  flies." 

And  popular,  sacred  songs  are  the  most  volatile  and  penetrating 
agents  of  religious  propagandism,  the  more  powerful  because 
their  power  is  unsuspected.  They  float  on  the  breeze  like  the 
thistle-down,  and  like  it  they  carry  their  seed  with  them.  It  is 
a  simple  yet  sufficient  illustration  of  this  far-reaching,  penetrative 
power  of  the  verse  which  John  Coulson  relates.  When,  in  1819, 
on  his  way  to  Hull  to  seek  out  W.  Clowes  and  the  Primitives,  he 
called  at  a  house  of  entertainment  at  Mansfield.  A  sweep  was 

*  Rev.  J.  Harvey,  "  Jubilee  of  Primitive  Methodism,"  1861. 


34  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

sitting  turning  over  the  leaves  of  a  dingy  pamphlet,  to  whom  presently  came  the 
hostess,  with  the  words :  "  Robert,  you  must  sing  that  hymn  with  the  hallelujahs  at 
the  end  of  it;  for  the  children  will  not  go  to  school  until  they  hear  it."  The 
sweep  stood  up  and  sang: — 

"  Come,  oh  come,  thou  vilest  sinner ; 
Christ  is  ready  to  receive; 
Weak  and  wounded,  sick  and  sore, 
Jesus'  balm  can  cure  more. 
Hallelujah,  hallelujah, 
Hallelujah  to  the  Lamb ! " 

We  are  not  sure  whether  a  still  higher  claim  cannot  be  put  forth  for  the  open-air 
hymn-singing  of  Primitive  Methodism  from  sixty  to  eighty  years  ago.  Not  even  yet 
can  England  be  called  with  the  same  truth  as  can  other  countries  that  might  be  named — 
the  land  of  song.  One  of  the  impressions  the  foreigner  gets  of  London  is  that, 
despite  the  constant  roar  of  traffic,  the  people  are  strangely  silent.  But,  if  we 
are  to  believe  Thomas  Mozley,*  the  England  of  1820  was  distinguished  neither  for  its 
songfulness  nor  for  its  silence,  but  for  a  vocal  expression  which  had  no  gladness  in  it, 
and  which  he  himself  thus  describes  : — 

"  I  will  content  myself  with  one  point  of  contrast  between  England  as  it  now 
is  and  England  as  it  was  two,  indeed  I  might  now  say  three  generations  ago. 
It  has  forced  itself  upon  me  so  often  that  I  should  hardly  do  justice  to  myself 
if  I  did  not  declare  it.  In  my  younger  days  there  was  heard  everywhere  and  at 
all  hours  the  voice  of  lamentation  and  passion,  not  always  from  the  young,  not 
always  even  from  the  very  poor.  In  towns  and  villages,  in  streets  and  in  houses, 
in  nurseries  and  in  schools,  and  even  on  the  road,  there  were  heard  continually 
screams,  prolonged  wailings,  indignant  remonstrances,  and  angry  altercations,  as 
if  the  earth  were  full  of  violence,  and  the  hearts  of  fathers  were  set  against 
their  children,  and  the  hearts  of  children  against  their  fathers.  No  doubt  it  was 
so  in  the  time  of  the  poet  who  filled  the  vestibule  of  hell  with  squalling  children. 
But,  as  I  have  said,  these  were  not  all  children  who  brawled  or  lamented  in  the 
open  air  and  in  the  mid-day,  filling  the  air  with  their  grievances,  and  resolved, 
as  they  could  not  be  happy  themselves,  none  else  should  be.  Such  a  picture  would 
be  pronounced  at  once  utterly  inapplicable  to  the  times  we  now  live  in,  but  I  leave 
it  to  almost  any  octogenarian  to  say  whether  it  be  not  a  true  account  of  England 
as  it  was  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago." 

The  picture  drawn  by  Mozley  of  England  as  he  knew  it  in  1820,  dark  though  it  be, 
is  not,  we  are  convinced,  overcharged  with  sepia.  "  Merry  England  "  was  a  designation 
sadly  inappropriate  to  our  land  before  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  What  the 
Psalmist  so  much  deprecated  had  befallen  us;  there  icas  "complaining  in  our  streets." 
Hence  the  open-air  songs  of  the  new  evangel  breathing  hope  and  promising  deliverance 

*  See  the  chapter  on  "  England  in  1820  and  England  in  1884,"  in  Vol.  II.  of  his  "  Beminiscences, 
chiefly  of  Villages,  Towns,  and  Schools."  Thomas  Mozley  was  a  brother  of  Canon  Mozley,  the 
theologian,  a  relative  of  Cardinal  Newman,  and  a  prolific  leader-writer  on  the  Times.  He  died 
in  1893,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age,  so  that,  in  giving  his  impressions  of  the  England  of 
1820  (the  year  Primitive  Methodism  was  introduced  into  Manchester),  he  was  writing  of  what  was 
well  within  his  own  knowledge. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  '      35 

came  as  a  startling  novelty,  and  no  wonder  men  flocked  to  listen.  And  if  now  Mozley's 
picture  held  up  to  the  present  would  appear  the  veriest  caricature,  we  should  rejoice 
that  our  Church  has  greatly  helped  to  destroy  its  verisimilitude.  As  we  pass  along 
the  streets  of  the  working-class  quarter  of  our  towns  and  cities  we 
hear  the  Salvation  Army  band,  and  from  many  a  lighted  window 
we  catch  the  sound  of  familiar  hymn.  Sacred  song,  like  bread, 
is  cheap  and  common  now,  we  say.  It  was  not  always  so,  and 
we  have  done  something  to  give  sacred  song  its  vogue.  • 

THE  MANCHESTER  GROUP  OF  CIRCUITS.     "Ws  ARE  SEVEN." 

By  1843  the  Manchester  Circuit  of  1821  had  come  to  be 
represented  by  a  group  of  direct  and  indirect  descendants — 
seven  in  number.  As  the  result  of  a  process  of  division  and 

LATE  MR.  E.  LOMAX,  .,...  .  ,  ..,.  .,    v     J    J  1  J-.L 

BOLTON.  sub-division  plus  extension,  the  original  circuit  had  developed  into 

the    Bolton,    Oldham,    Isle   of   Man,    Stockport,    Bury,    Rochdale,    and    Stalybridge 
Circuits.     Let  us  rapidly  follow  the  main  lines  of  this  development. 

Bolton  was  granted  circuit  independence,  June,  1822.  J.  Verity  was  here  on 
June  24th,  1821,  when  he  writes  of  preaching  to  three  thousand  people,  joining 
twenty  to  the  society,  and  notes  that  there  is  "an  appearance  of  a  great  work." 
Just  a  month  after  he  is  at  a  camp-meeting,  and  leads  a  love-feast  in  the  Cloth  Hall. 
On  August  19th  he  preaches  three  times  in  the  open  air,  having,  it  was  said,  a 
congregation  of  five  thousand  people.  Two  days  after,  he  is  collecting  for  the  fitting 
up  of  a  large  room,  and  meets  with  "amazing  success."  He  is  greatly  encouraged 
by  a  gift  of  sixteen  shillings  from  a  number  of  mechanics.  They  were  just  about 
to  have  a  "  footing "  carouse,  when  an  "  influence  which  could  only  proceed  from 
Almighty  God  caused  them  to  deny  themselves,"  and  devote  the  money  to  the  "poor 
Ranters,"  as  they  called  them.  Verity  closes  his  labours  at  Bolton  by  forming 
a  Leaders'  Meeting,  and  at  this  time,  August  24th,  reports  that  there  are  nine  classes 
and  one  hundred  and  sixty  members.  Progress  is  marked  by  the  opening,  on 
September  3rd,  of  the  large  room  by  Walton.  Carter  as  preacher,  and  though  it  was 
a  week  evening,  he  had  a  congregation  of  eleven  or  twelve 
hundred  people.  It  is  noteworthy  that  when  Bolton  was  made 
•a  circuit  no  other  place  was  associated  with  it,  hence,  as  two 
preachers  are  on  the  station  in  1823,  and  five  hundred  members 
are  reported,  it  is  clear  that  other  adjacent  places  must  soon  have 
been  missioned. 

In   this   same   year,    1822,    a    brick    chapel    was    erected   in 
Xewport    Street,  and  a  congregation  continued  to  worship  there 
until  1865,  when  a  chapel  was  purchased  from  the  Baptists  in 
Moor   Lane,    now   the    head    of    Bolton    Second.      The   present 
Higher  Bridge  Street  Chapel,  the  head  of  Bolton  First  Circuit,       LATE  MBS.  BKBBY. 
was  erected  in  1870  at  a  cost  of  £6,588.     It  occupies  the  site  acquired  as  far  back 
as  1836  by  Samuel  Tillotson,    on  which  a  plain,    substantial  building  was   erected, 
flanked  on  either  side  by  a  house  (in  one  of  which  the  preacher  resided),  and  having 

c  2 


36 


PRIMITIVE  METHODIST  CHURCH. 


H  burial-ground  in  front.  In  1868  a  school  was  built  in  the  rear~'of  the1  chapel,  and 
the  years  brought  other  changes  to  the  property,  the  most  serious  being  decrepitude — 
a  tendency  to  fall.  The  insecurity  of  the  structure  led  to  the  erection,  during  the 
vigorous  superintendency  of  the  Rev.  James  Travis,  of  the  chapel  shown  in  our 
picture.  In  1893  the  school  premises  were  entirely  re-modelled. 

All  the  facts  go  to  show  that  from  the  first,  Bolton,  like  other  Lancashire  towns, 
took  kindly  to  Primitive  Methodism.  "  Took  kindly  "  is  scarcely  the  word.  It  would 
be  nearer  the  truth  to  say — it  eagerly,  almost  fiercely  welcomed  it.  Bolton  and 
Primitive  Methodism  gripped  each  other.  The  first  Minute  Book  of  the  Manchester 


HIGHER  BRIDGE  STREET  CHAPEL,  BOLTON. 

Circuit  shows  that  before  the  close  of  1821  there  were  more  members  in  Bolton 
than  in  Manchester  itself,  the  numbers  being  321  and  211  respectively.  The 
young  circuit  was  vigorous  and  enterprising.  Probably  the  story  is  mythical  which 
tells  how  the  Bolton  Quarterly  Meeting  having,  swhen  all  expenses  were  met, 
a  balance  of  sixpence,  forthwith  resolved,  on  the  strength  of  that  sixpence,  to  call 
out  an  additional  preacher,  who  was  none  other  than  James  Austin  Bastow.  But 
the  Bolton  Circuit  officials,  some  of  whose  portraits  are  given,  were  just  the  men 
to  venture  much  and  win,  as  they  assuredly  did,  if  the  story  of  their  calling  out 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


MISS   JANE    CROOK. 


MR.  J.  PENDLEBURY. 


Mr.  Bastow  be  true.  But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  Bolton  Circuit  had  the  courage 
of  faith  in  resolving,  six  months  after  its  becoming  a  circuit,  to  send  John  Butcher 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Isle  of  Man.  Probably  it  is  without  a  parallel  that  mother 
and  daughter-circuits  should  come  on  the 
stations  together,  as  was  the  case  with 
Bolton  and  Castletown,  Isle  of  Man,  in  the 
Conference  Minutes  of  1823. 

John  Butcher  landed  at  Derby  Haven, 
and  "opened  his  mission  in  nearly  the  first 
house  he  came  to."  A  Mr.  Kelly,  we  are  told, 
received  him  into  his  house,  for  which  act  of 
good-will  he  was  unchurched  by  the  denomi- 
nation to  which  he  belonged.  The  mission- 
ary's Journal  shows  that  he  began  his  labours 
at  Castletown  on  Friday,  January  10th, 
1823,  and  that  he  went  on  holding  services  at  Colby,  Ballasalla,  Howe,  Port  John, 
and  other  places  in  the  south-west  of  the  island. 

In  this  Manx  Mission  of  the  Bolton  Circuit  we  have  an  early  and  normal  example 
of  the  Circuit-mission.  By  this  is  meant  that  the  circuit  has  looked  beyond  its  own 
doors  and,  assuming  the  functions  and  responsibilities  of  a  missionary  executive,  has 
conceived  the  plan  of  sending  its  accredited  agent  to  some  more  distant  sphere.  The 
mission  is  the  outpost  to  which  the  circuit  serves  as  the  base.  Thus  regarded,  the  mission 
to  the  Isle  of  Man  was  the  boldest  thing  a  Primitive  Methodist  circuit  had  as  yet 
attempted.  It  anticipated  the  Irish  missions  by  ten,  and  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow 

missions  by  four  years.  Leeds' 
mission  to  London,  which  took 
place  about  the  same  time,  is 
the  only  instance  we  can  recall 
that  can  be  compared  with 
it  for  boldness.  The  London 
mission  was  a  venture  that 
failed ;  the  Manx  mission  suc- 
ceeded. And  yet,  in  some 
respects,  the  latter  was  the 
bigger  venture ;  for  the  Isle 
of  Man,  though  not  far  away 
as  mere  miles  count,  was  over- 
sea, and  Mona  was  then,  much 

PRESENT   CHAPEL   AT   HARWOOD,    BOLTON.  more    than     it     ig    noWj     &    little 

kingdom  apart,  with  its  own  customs  and  laws  and  even  language,  so  that  it  was 
something  of  the[nature  of  an  experiment  whether  Primitive  Methodism  would  commend 
itself  to  these  islanders  of  Celtic  race,  and  take  hold  of  their  rich  and  fervid  nature. 
The  experiment  succeeded.  The  evangel  the  two  Butchers — the  son  soon  joining 
the  father — had  to  offer  fitted  the  Manx  people  as  perfectly  as  the  ball  fits  its 


38 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


socket.  There  was  scarcely  the  shadow  of  persecution,  unless  the  occasional 
exhibition  of  suspicion  and  prejudice  may  be  counted  such.  "As  we  sang  through 
the  town  some  cried,  '  Shame  !  shame  ! '  We  get  nothing  much  worse  than  this.  And 
on  the  other  hand,  we  hear  many  more  saying,  'It  is  like  the  old  times,  when  the 
Methodists  first  came  to  the  Island.'  "  They  recognised  and  welcomed  the  primitiveness 
of  the  Methodism  brought  them.  How  the  work  spread  in  this  coiner  of  the  island 
during  these  first  months  of  the  year  may  be  gathered  from  a  joint-letter  written  on 
May  5th  from  Kirk  Arbory,  and  addressed :  "  Dear  brethren  and  fathers  in  the 
Gospel."  The  letter,  of  which  unfortunately  only  the  initials  of  the  signatories  are 
given,  is  a  document  that  cannot  well  be  omitted. 

"  We  have  the  pleasure  of  informing  you  that  the  preachers  you  have  sent  over 
to  us  have,  by  their  preaching  and  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  been  rendered 
instrumental  in  the  salvation  of  many  souls.  We  have  now  in  society  about  two 
hundred  members,  and  the  work  appears  to  be  prosperous,  and  as  if  it  were  just 
beginning ;  for  the  people  flock  to  hear  them,  '  as  doves  to  their  windows,'  from 
the  distance  of  four  or  five  miles,  and  are  crying,  '  Come,  preach  for  us.'  But  as 
we  have  but  two  preachers,  they  can  only  compass  about  twelve  or  fourteen  miles 
in  length,  on  one  side  of  the  Island.  And  as  we  have  no  local  preachers,  we  cannot 
reach  the  places  as  we  could  wish.  We  have  some  who  are  nearly  ready  for 
exhorters.  We  have  begun  to  have  some  prayer  meetings,  and  they  are  a  great 
blessing  unto  us. 

"  We  have  begun  preaching  at  Douglas ;  one  of  our  preachers  has  preached 

there  at  the  market-place  these  five 
Sabbaths  last  past,  and  the  services 
have  been  attended  by  amazingly  large 
congregations. 

"  We  remain,  in  the  bonds  of  love  and 
fellowship, 

"A.  C.;  J.  G. ;  J.  C. ;  C.  C." 

At  Midsummer,  Henry  Sharman  was 
added  to  the  staff  of  preachers,  and  from 
his  Journal  it  is  clear  that  already  the 
towns  of  Douglas  and  Peel  had  been 
fastened  upon  and  made  the  strategic 
points  for  further  evangelistic  labours. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  year, 
Sharman  had  his  "  rounds,"  foreshadow- 
ing the  branches  and  circuits  of  a  later 
time.  First,  we  find  him  labouring  on  the 
Castletown  side,  and  then,  after  a  time, 
he  goes  into  the  Douglas  "round," 
which  included  Laxey.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Thomas  Steele  was  very 
helpful  to  Sharman  while  he  was  in 
this  part.  He  records  that  "  he  has  been 


PEEL  OLD   CHAPEL. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  39 

made  a  blessing  to  our  society  in  the  Island,"  and  that  "  we  preachers  believe  the  Lord 
sent  him."  Finally,  Sharman  goes  for  a  month  to  more  distant  Peel,  "a  place  noted 
for  its  wickedness  and  hardness,  which  gave  him  some  concern."  Land  had  already 
been  secured  for  a  chapel  at  Douglas.  Just  before  the  Christmas  of  1823  Castletown 
chapel  was  opened ;  four  other  chapels  are  said  to  be  in  course  of  erection,  and  the 
number  of  members  in  the  Island  is  reported  as  six  hundred  and  forty-three. 

For  two  years  only  Castletown  stands  on  the  stations,  then  it  is  simply  "  Isle  of 
Man."  Evidently  Douglas  soon  began  to  take  the  lead,  and  became  the  residence 
of  the  superintendent.  In  1842,  differentiation  began  to  show  itself.  We  have 
Douglas;  Eamsey  Branch;  and  Peel  Mission.  In  1849,  Ramsey  is  a  circuit,  with 
Peel  as  its  branch;  later,  Peel  is  re-absorbed.  In  1851,  Castletown  is  a  branch;  and, 
in  1868,  both  Castletown  and  Peel  have  become  independent  stations.  Finally,  when, 
in  1887,  Laxey  was  made  a  station,  the  present  number  and  order  of  stations  were 
arrived  at.  These  changes  reflect  the  vicissitudes  through  which  our  Church  in  the 
Island  has  passed,  and  the  numerical  returns  bear  similar  witness.  In  1832,  the 
number  of  members  given  is  339 ;  next  year  the  number  is  1,000,  which  is  also  that 
of  1842  ;  but,  in  1837,  the  number  had  sunk  to  756.  It  is  singular  that  our  present 
numerical  position  in  the  Island  is  practically  the  same  as  in  1842,  viz.,  1,089,  while 
the  number  of  ministers  is  also  the  same.  Seasons  of  spiritual  declension  alternating 
with  seasons  of  revival  do  not  altogether,  or  perhaps  even  mainly,  account  for  these 
fluctuations.  Of  course  they  have  operated  and  left  their  mark  on  the  periodic 
returns.  But  the  chief  explanation  will  probably  be  found  in  the  action,  more  or  less 
acute,  of  economic  and  industrial  conditions  determining  the  flow  of  emigration  from 
the  Island,  which  has  right  along  been  a  serious  hindrance  to  the  steady  advance  of 
the  societies.  Yet,  despite  this  hindrance,  the  Isle  of  Man  still  contributes  one-ninth 
part  of  the  total  membership  of  the  Liverpool  District,  and  it  has  strongly  rooted 
itself  in  the  religious  and  social  life  of  the  Island,  as  the  advance  the  Church  has  made 
on  the  material  side  during  late  years  strikingly  shows.  Illustrations  of  this  later 
phase  of  our  history  we  hope  to  give  hereafter ;  but,  even  confining  ourselves  to  the 
earlier  period,  Bolton's  mission  to  the  Isle  of  Man  must  be  pronounced  a  success 
both  in  its  direct  and  indirect  results.  Names  which  at  once  betray  their  Manx 
origin  are  found  on  the  muster-roll  of  our  workers,  past  and 
present,  both  in  the  Isle  and  out  of  it.  They  stand  side  by  side 
with  the  plain  Saxon  patronymics  we  know  so  well.  The  blend 
and  association  of  racial  qualities  in  Christian  communion  and 
service  thus  indicated  has  been  all  for  good.  Names  such  as 
Clucos,  and  Quayle,  and  Cain  are  unmistakeably  Manx,  and  they 
are  the  names  of  some  out  of  many  who  might  be  named,  who 
served  the-  interests  of  our  Church  in  the  Island  during  the 
earlier  days.  Philip  Clucos  (born  1809,  died  1885)  was  a  noted 
pioneer  worker  and  evangelist  in  his  day,  and  as  such  he  traversed 
MR.  PHILIP  CLUCOS.  the  Islan(i>  winning  many  converts.  The  hospitality  of  the 
Quayles,  of  Glenmaye  —  of  which  society  Mrs.  Quayle  was 
the  first  member — is  reported  of  to  this  day.  Of  John  Cain,  of  Rinshent,  Foxdale, 


40 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


it  is  said  he  opened  his  house  for  services,  and  when  the  farm-kitchen  was  too  small 
he  fitted  up  his  barn.  He  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  erection  of  the  first  chapel 
at  Foxdale.  His  house  was  always  open  to  the  servants  of  God,  and  his  horses  at 


GLENMAYE   OLK   CHAPEL. 


their  disposal  to  lighten  their  journeys.  Through  the  biographies  in  the  Magazine* 
we  get  glimpses  of  other  early  workers  and  befrienders  of  the  Cause.  There  are 
Jane  Cubbon,  who  welcomed  John  Butcher  to  her  father's  house  at  Colby ; 
Patrick  Cannal,  one  of  his  first  converts  at  Kirk  Michael,  and  trustee  and  steward  of 
the  chapel  built  in  1824;  Ann  Quirk,  who  united  with  the  first  class  at  Douglas,  and 
Ann  Kaown,  "  whose  house  was  unspeakably  valuable  in  the  introduction  of  Primitive 


MR.  W.  QUAYLE.  MRS.  W.  QUAYLE.  MR.  JOHN  CAIN. 

Methodism  into  Douglas ;  John  Corlett,  local  preacher,  who,  as  a  sailor,  during  ten 
years  preached  in  the  Shetland  Isles,  at  the  ports  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  was 
afterwards  for  three  years  a  devoted  town  missionary  at  Douglas;  John  Clague,  of 
Ramsey  Circuit,  who  preached  for  twenty-one  years  in  his  native  Manx,  and  Robert 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  41 

Tear,  also  of  the  same  circuit,  "whose  addresses,  principally  given  in  his  native  tongue, 
were  full  of  originality,  pointed,  homely  and  pious,  aptly  illustrated  by  references  to 
agricultural  customs." 

Returning  to  Bolton  Circuit.  In  December,  1823,  Henry  Sharman  writes:  "We 
were  enabled  to  send  the  money  we  owed  to  Bolton  Circuit,  and  were  very  little  short 
in  paying  all  besides."  So  that  not  only  was  Bolton  nothing  out  of  pocket  by  its 
venture,  but  it  had  also  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  by  its  enterprise  it  had 
added  a  miniature  kingdom  to  the  Connexion,  and  set  a  worthy  example  before  other 
circuits.  Besides  the  Isle  of  Man,  other  circuits  have,  during  the  course  of  years, 
been  formed  from  Bolton,  viz.,  Bury,  Bolton  Second,  Darwen,  Leigh,  Hey  wood,  and 
Horwich.  Of  these  successive  changes  in  internal  administration,  the  first  only  falls 
within  the  first  period.  In  the  first  Minute  Book  of  the  Manchester  Circuit,  Bury 
has  only  six  members,  from  which  fact  it  may  be  inferred  that  at  the  close  of  1821 
Bury  had  but  just  been  missioned.  In  1835,  Bury  stands  on  the  Bolton  plan  as 
a  branch  with  some  fifteen  places,  including  Edenfield,  Ramsbottom,  Heywood, 
Chadderton,  Summerseat,  and  Ratcliffe.  At  the  Conference  of  1836  it  became  an 
independent  station,  with  one  minister  and  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  members. 

OLDHAM. 

Oldham  was  missioned  about  the  same  «time  as  Bolton,  and  here  also  "thousands 
crowded  to  hear  the  Word  of  life  in  the  open-air."  There  is  no  need  to  discount 
these  words  of  Verity's  as  though  they  were  merely  a  rhetorical  exaggeration.  Unless 
everybody  has  conspired  to  deceive  us,  Oldham  camp-meetings  down  to,  and  even 
beyond,  the  middle  of  last  century  were  noted  for  the  immense  throngs  attending 
them.  The  Rev.  W.  Antliff,  who  spent  five  of  the  most  influential  years  of  his 
ministry  in  Oldham  (1857-61),  tells  us  that  the  Oldham  Whitsunday  camp-meeting, 
held  on  Oldham  Edge,  was  one  of  the  largest  in  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  He  gives 
the  probable  numbers  present  in  1861  as  ten  thousand  ;  for  that  of  1858,  his  predecessor, 
Miles  Dickenson,  gives  the  estimate  of  fifteen  thousand.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  say 
that  the  traditional  estimates  of  the  numbers  brought  together  at  some  of  these  annual 
gatherings  go  far  beyond  these  figures.  It  almost  seems  as  though  the  first  Oldham 
camp-meeting  of  May  19th,  1822,  had  set  the  pattern  for  all  subsequent  ones.  The 
site  of  the  Oldham  gathering  on  this  famous  camp-meeting  Sunday — of  which  we 
wish  we  could  have  had  a  census  of  attendance  and  the  number  of  professing 
converts — was  at  Bardsley,  in  a  field  lent  by  Mr.  Brierley,  of  the  Fir  Trees  Farm. 
The  services  were  carried  on  entirely  by  Manchester  men,  of  whom  Walton  Carter 
was  the  leader.  Fourteen  thousand  people  were  said  to  have  been  present ;  there 
were  two  preaching-stands,  five  praying  companies,  and  two  permanent  ones.  Carter 
says  of  this  notable  gathering :  "  People  of  all  denominations  received  it  with  appro- 
bation ;  while  the  attention  of  the  multitude  was  arrested,  and  the  hearts  of  many 
were  inspired  with  zeal  for  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

This  Pentecostal  day,  however,  did  not  found  the  church  at  Oldham  though  it 
did  strengthen  it  and  add  to  its  numbers.  A  class  had  previously  been  formed  at 
Brook,  near  Bardsley,  with  James  Wild  and  R.  Ashworth  as  its  leaders ;  and  a  second 


42 


PHIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 


THE    PEEIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  43 

at  Oldham,  of  which  Peter  Macdonald  and  F.  Mannock  were  put  in  charge.  Peter 
Macdonald  graduated  for  the  position  of  first  leader  through  Roman  Catholicism  and 
Methodism.  If  Jonathan  Ireland  had,  for  his  soul's  good,  rung  the  church  bells  ; 
Peter  Macdonald  had,  as  an  acolyte,  tinkled  the  bells  at  the  celebration  «f  mass,  in 
his  native  county  of  Carlow.  But  he  got  his  mind  enlightened  when  he  came  to 
England  to  follow  his  trade,  abjured  the  errors  of  Romanism,  and,  like  others  here- 
about, passed  through  Methodism  to  join  the  new  revival  movement,  which  both 
suited  him  well  and,  as  he  thought,  needed  what  help  he  could  give.  His  life, 
culminating  in  a  triumphant  death  in  1835,  was  written  by  Samuel  Atterby,  and 
might  profitably  be  reprinted  by  Oldham  Primitives.  Besides  the  officials  of  the 
first  generation  already  named,  mention  may  be  made  of  James  Taylor,  a  convert  of 
Thomas  Aspinall  in  1823,  "one  of  the  first  and  fastest  friends  of  Primitive  Methodism 
in  the  town";  J.  Kent,  Circuit  Steward  from  1829  to  1838;  and  W.  Winterbottom, 
of  Shore  Edge,  who  was  present  at  the  first  camp-meeting,  and  a  local  preacher  from 
1828  until  his  death  about  1880. 

It  was  in  1862  that  Oldham  was  divided  into  Oldham  First  and  Second  Circuits, 
the  latter  with  Lees  Road  as  its  head,  including  also  Lees,  Bardsley,  Waterhead, 
Elliott  Street,  Delph,  and  Hollinwood.  Regarding  this  as  our  goal  for  the  time  being, 
two  lines  of  development  as  leading  up  to  it  are  distinctly  traceable  as  early  as  1821. 
These  are  set  before  us  in  the  entry  in  the  first  Minute  Book  of  the  Manchester 
Circuit:  "Mumps  and  Oldham  160  members."  The  Oldham  line  is  comparatively 
simple  and  direct;  the  other,  starting  from  Mumps  and  ending  in  Lees  Road,  is  as 
zig-zag  as  pictured  lightning.  Oldham's  first  humble  domicile  was  a  stable  in  Duke 
Street ;  the  next,  a  room  in  Grosvenor  Street,  which,  becoming  too  small,  was  vacated 
for  a  small  chapel  in  the  same  street,  built  about  1826  ;  then  in  1832,  during 
the  superintendency  of  William  Taylor,  a  much  larger  building  was  erected  in 
Boardman  Street,  which  for  a  good  many  years  was  Oldham's  principal  chapel.  As  for 
the  other  society,  like  Moab,  it  seems  to  have  been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel  and 
not  allowed  to  settle  on  its  lees.  From  whatever  causes,  it  had  to  shift  its  quarters 
several  times  before  it  acquired  a  location  with  anything  like  fixity  of  tenure.  This 
was  in  a  measure  accomplished  when,  in  1830,  a  room  in  Vineyard  Street  was  acquired, 
which  for  ten  years  served  for  public  worship  and  Sabbath  School  teaching. 

1825  and  1826 — "those  years  the  locust  hath  eaten" — seem 
to  have  been  at  Oldham,  as  they  were  elsewhere,  a  time  of  trial 
and  waste.  There  are  eight  preaching-places  fewer  on  the  plan 
than  before,  and  the  number  of  local  preachers  is  reduced  by  six. 
But  under  the  vigorous  and  methodical  ministry  of  F.  N.  Jersey 
and  his  colleagues,  the  aspect  of  things  somewhat  brightened, 
and  the  two  years — 1829-31 — John  Garner  spent  in  the  circuit 
were  remarkable  for  their  prosperity.  He  was  then  in  the  bloom 
and  vigour  of  his  manhood,  and  at  the  zenith  of  his  ministerial 
power.  James  Garner  was  called  out  as  an  additional  preacher. 
MR.  j.  LONGLEY.  Not  only  was  Vineyard  Street  acquired,  but  in  1831  a  chapel 

Oldham  Second  Circuit.  j       ,     TT   •,-,.  j          -r  J.T  •  j.  JM.  j 

was  opened  at   Hollinwood.      Just  thirty  years  alter,  a  second 


44  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

chapel  was  built  at  Hollinwood,  and  since  1880  it  has  stood  at  the  head  of 
Oldham  Third  Circuit.  We  gather  that  the  revival  which  resulted  in  adding 
two  hundred  members  to  the  circuit  membership  during  these  two  years  was  marked 
by  certain  "  peculiar  features,"  not  clearly  specified  by  John  Garner's  biographer. 
"Writing  with  an  almost  provoking  reticence,  he  says :  "  Certain  peculiar  features  of 
the  work  excited,  in  his  observing  mind,  a  degree  of  apprehension.  He  narrowly 
watched  the  movements  of  the  parties  who  acted  prominent  parts  in  the  public 
religious  services.  And  as  he  believed  them  to  be  persons  of  real  worth,  and  influenced 
by  sincere  motives,  he  honoured  them  with  his  confidence,  and  was  thankful  for  their 
hearty  co-operation."  In  these  words,  the  biographer  rather  timidly  glances  at  some  of 
those  physical  manifestations  of  highly-wrought  religious  feeling  that  not  unfrequently 
showed  themselves  in  early  Methodism,  and  were  not  altogether  unknown  in  the 
beginning  of  our  own  Connexional  history.  Sometimes  these  manifestations  took 
the  form  of  fallings  ;  at  other  times  their  subject  would  go  into  trance  conditions, 
or,  yet  again,  would  leap  or  dance.  The  "peculiar  features  "of  the  Oldham  revival 
took  the  form  last  named,  as  Jonathan  Ireland  tells  us.  They  in  Manchester  heard 
rumours  of  what  was  going  on  in  Oldham,  and  determined  to  see  for  themselves 
whether  rumour  spoke  truly.  Probably  they  timed  their  visit  so  as  to  be  present  at 
the  quarterly  love-feast  held  December  13th,  1829,  at  which,  says  John  Garner  in 
his  Journal,  "  many  from  Manchester  and  other  places  attended ;  the  chapel  [Grosvenor 
Street]  was  crowded,  and  sixteen  persons  professed  to  have  been  made  happy  in  the 
Lord  during  the  day."  Ireland  speaks  without  reserve  of  the  manifestations  reported 
of  at  Manchester.  "We  had  not  been  long  in  the  chapel  when  the  jumping  began. 
It  soon  spread,  and  became  general  all  over  the  chapel.  But  Mr.  John  Garner  said : 
'If  you  don't  like  this  sort  of  work,  you  can  take  your  hats  and  leave  us.' "  It  should 
be  noted  as  a  fact  of  much  importance  that  Ireland  distinctly  states  this  saltatory 
habit  was  "  confined  to  the  best  and  most  devoted  members  of  the  society."  No 
doubt  Mr.  Garner  would  rather  have  had  the  gracious  influences  without  these 
accompaniments ;  but  he  was  a  shrewd  man,  and,  though  he  had  kept  careful  watch, 
he  could  detect  neither  imposture  nor  characterless  fanaticism  in  these  phenomena. 
Hence  he  was  chary  of  rebuke,  lest  haply  he  should  root  up 
the  wheat  with  the  tares. 

On  February  14th,  1836,  the  streets  of  Oldham  saw  a  busy  and 
every  way  primitive  sight,  interesting  to  us  as  showing  that  the 
traits  so  characteristic  of  Hugh  Bourne  were  as  strongly  marked 
as  ever,  though  he  was  now  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 
In  the  •  morning  *  he  ,  had,  led  a  class,   shaken  hands  with  all  the 
Sunday  school  scholars,  and  then  preached  to  them  in  Boardman 
Street  Chapel ;    and  now,  in  the  afternoon,  he  was  heading  a  pro- 
cession after  his  own  heart.    There  were  seven  stoppages  for  prayer, 
MR.  LUKE  NIKLD.       and  H.  B.   preached  seven  one-minute-and-a-half  sermons,  plain, 
mt>    pointed,  and,  for  the  sake  of  the  children,  containing  references 
to  the  power  of  divine  grace  as  able  to  'take  the  naughty  out  of  their  hearts,  and 
to  save  them  from  Satan  and  his  blue  flames.'     All  this  he  describes  with  evident  zest, 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  45 

and  the  description  is  blended  with  counsel  as  to  the  right  ordering  of  such  services, 
and  models  of  the  right  kind  of  one-minute  sermons  are  given ;  and  then  he  turns  to 
tell,  with  wonderful  naivete  and  simplicity,  the  incident  of  the  child  that  was  his  com- 
panion throughout  this  processionary  service  : — 

"A  little  matter  took  place,  which  drew  great  attention.  When  we  had  been 
moving  for  some  time,  I  happened  to  turn  my  head,  and  was  aware  of  a  little 
girl,  of  about  three  or  four  years  of  age,  having  hold  of  my  coat,  and  walking 
by  my  side  in  an  orderly  manner.  This  a  little  surprised  me.  I  put  her  on  the 
foot-path  to  walk  with  some  other  girls ;  but  she  was  immediately  at  my  side 
again  as  before.  And,  however  dirty  the  streets,  or  difficult,  she  kept  her  place. 
After  we  had  stopped  at  any  time  to  pray  and  speak,  she  was  at  once  at  hjer  place 
again ;  and  when  the  street  was  very  dirty,  I  occasionally  took  her  by  the  hand. 
I  felt  a  little  anxiety  lest  the  little  creature  should  be  hurt.  But  all  went  well ; 
and  when  returning  to  the  chapel,  the  street  being  very  dirty,  I  put  her  on  the 
foot-path,  and  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  her  come  safe  to  the  chapel.  And 
I  afterwards  found  this  little  girl's  conduct  had  drawn  the  attention  of  many." 

There  is  something  of  the  didactic  and  prophetic  about  this  incident,  which  we  may 
be  sure  Hugh  Bourne  did  not,  after  all,  consider  "a  small  matter."  Hugh  Bourne 
and  the  child  hand  in  hand,  heading  the  procession  through  Oldham  streets,  was  a  lesson, 
and  a  parable  of  the  future  as  well  as  a  pleasing  picture.  It  said :  "Take  care  of  the 
children.  Do  not  repulse  them  and  say,  '  Trouble  not  the  Master.'  Have  them  with 
you.  Lift  them  out  of  the  dirt,  and  keep  them  from  falling."  And  it  anticipated 
these  later  days,  when  the  young  are  ungrudgingly  welcomed  into  the  van  of  the 
Church's  forward  movements. 

The  picture,  as  thus  given,  is  scarcely  complete  without  a  reference  to  Hugh  Bourne's 
engagement  on  the  morning  following  the  multifarious  labours  of  the  Sabbath,  which 
might  well  have  brought  "  blue  Monday  "  in  their  train.  If  it  came,  it  found  him  still 
following  his  bent — caring  for  the  young  life.  After  a  night's  rest  at  his  old  friend 
James  Wild's,  he  went  with  S.  Atterby  to  Lees,  to  inspect  the 
Infant  School  taught  in  the  chapel  S.  Turner  had  built  in  1834. 
H.  B.  compared  notes  with  Brother  Watts,  the  teacher,  and  suggested 
certain  improvements  he  himself  had  projected,  and  finished  up  by 
holding  a  service  with  the  children. 

We  close  our  notice  of  Oldham  by  calling  attention  to  the 
portraits,  which  will  be  found  in  the  text,  of  some,  out  of  many 
that  might  have  been  given,  of  tried  and  faithful  officials  who 
may  be  considered  to  have  been  the  makers  of  Oldham  Second 
Station. 
MR.  D.  CLKGG.  Qn  ^e  Sunday  before  the  Coronation,  July  15th,  1821,  John 

Oldham  Second'Circuit.  ,  ..          .  ^T  „          . 

Verity  lormed  societies  at  Newton,  Staly bridge,  and  Ashton-under- 

Lyne.  Despite  the  opposition  met  with  at  the  last-named  place,  the  work  prospered ; 
indeed,  so  much  favour  did  the  missionaries  find  with  the  people,  that  they  came 
forward  willingly  to  furnish  the  preaching-room,  as  Verity  thankfully  and  even 
exultantly  records.  From  the  evidence  supplied  by  an  old  plan,  it  would  seem  that 
Ashton  stood  as  a  circuit  in  1824.  But,  if  so,  its  name  does  not  appear  on  the  Conferential 


46  PKIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

stations  as  such,  and,  in  1825,  Ashton,  together  with  Hyde  and  Dukinfield,  were 
transferred  from  Manchester  to  Oldham ;  and  in  1838,  these  and  other  places 
became  the  Stalybridge  Circuit. 

Ashton  made  full  amends  for  the  rough  treatment  of  our  early  missionaries  by 
some  of  its  inhabitants.  It  has  paid  a  large  indemnity,  by  which  the  Connexion  has 
been  enriched.  As  a  set-off  to  the  hustling  of  Walton  Carter  and  the  imprisonment 
of  S.  Waller,  it  has  sent  forth  some  of  its  sons  who  have  done  splendid  service. 
The  Ashton  society  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  three  young  men  who  were 
companions.  One  of  these  was  James  Austerbury,  now  spending  a  quiet  evening  after 
serving  the  Church  at  home  long  and  faithfully ;  the  second  was  Edward  Crompton, 
who  after  spending  some  years  in  the  ministry  in  this  country,  entered  that  of  the 
Primitive  Methodist  Church  of  the  U.  S.  A. ;  the  third  was  John  Standrin,  who  prior 
to  his  being  sent  out  in  1857  by  the  G.  M.  Committee  to  Australia,  travelled  in  the 
Knowlwood  Circuit — 1854-55.  During  revivalistic  services  which  he  conducted  at 
Summit,  on  the  Lancashire  side  of  the  Pennine  range,  a  group  of  young  men  were 
won  to  the  Church,  some  of  whom  were  to  carve  their  name  deep  in  the  history 
of  our  Church  during  the  middle  and  later  periods  of  its  history.  When  we  say  that 
one  of  these  was  James  Travis,  another  John  Slater,  and  a  third  Barnabas  Wild,  long 
esteemed  in  the  Sunderland  District  as  a  solid  preacher  and  an  upbuilder  of  the 
churches,  it  will  be  seen  that  Ashton  is  an  interesting  link  in  the  chain  of  causes 
which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  have  produced  far-reaching  results. 

ROCHDALE  ;   STOCKPORT. 

Rochdale  was  part  of  the  Manchester  Circuit  until  1837,  when  it  became  the  head 
of  a  station  with  five  hundred  members.  We  know  the  exact  date  when  our  missionaries 
first  lifted  up  their  voice  in  this  important  town.  It  was  July  15th,  1821,  when 
Walton  Carter  "  went  to  open  Rochdale,"  as  he  himself  has  told  us.  "  Three  of  our 
society,"  he  says,  "  went  with  me.  We  sang  up  the  street  at  one  o'clock,  and  collected 
a  good  many  people.  But  heavy  rain  coming  on,  I  was  obliged  to  desist ;  but  resumed 
my  place  at  five,  and  preached  to  a  very  large  and  attentive  congregation.  Some  were 
affected,  and  I  have  heard  since  were  brought  to  God." 

The  heavy  rain  here  referred  to  may  have  been  the  identical  rain-storm  which,  as 
Jonathan  Ireland  avers,  led  Jenny  Bridges  to  take  pity  on  the  missionary,  and  offer 
him.  the  shelter  of  her  cellar  in  Cheetham  Street  for  the  service.  Anyway,  the  cellar 
was  Rochdale's  first  lowly  preaching-place.  The  tenants  of  the  cellar,  John  Bridges, 
the  carrier,  and  his  wife,  must  be  numbered  among  the  eccentrics  of  our  Israel,  yet 
one  trait  in  Jane's  character  may  be  recalled  to  her  credit.  Reverence  may  show  itself 
in  cellar  as  well  as  in  cathedral ;  and  for  that  particular  flag  in  her  own  cellar  whereon 
Jane  knelt  when  she  found  peace  through  believing,  she  had  ever  a  feeling  akin  to 
reverence.  She  kept  it  clean.  She  pointed  it  out  to  visitors.  To  her  it  was  a  spot  as 
sacred  as  an  adorned  altar. 

From  the  cellar,  a  remove  was  made,  in  1825,  to  a  room  in  Packer  Meadow,  off 
Packer  Street.  The  remove  was  a  step  upward  in  the  scale  of  respectability ;  for  we 
are  told  that  Packer  Street  (of  which  we  give  a  view,  taken  from  an  old  print),  was, 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


in  those  days,  considered  one  of  the  important  streets  of  the  town.  Though  very 
narrow,  many  business  and  professional  men  had  premises  here ;  and  at  the  top  of  this 
street  was  the  ascent  to  the  parish  church  by  a  flight  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one 

steps ;  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  steps,  to  the 
right,  was  the  famous  "  Packer  Spout,"  a  well  noted 
for  its  cool,  clear,  pure  water. 

The  room  over  the  cloth-dresser's  in  Packer 
Street  served  the  uses  of  the  society  until  1830, 
when  Drake  Street  Chapel  was  built,  at  first 
without  a  gallery.  This,  in  its  turn,  lasted  until 
1862,  when  the  present  chapel  was  built  at  a  cost 
of  £2,500.  Thus,  for  a  generation — right  through 
the  mid-third  of  the  century — "  old  "  Drake  Street 
was  the  Church's  centre  in  Rochdale  for  worship 
and  service.  Many  worthy  people,  of  whom  one 
or  two  only  we  may  recall,  gradually  grew  old  and 
grey  in  attending  upon  its  ordinances  and  fulfilling 
their  varied  ministries. 

Edmund  Holt  was,  for  many  years,  the  choir- 
master of  Drake  Street.  Here  any  Sunday  he 
might  have  been  seen,  surrounded  by  other 

instrumentalists  and  singers,  manipulating  a  huge  concertina.  This  good  though 
eccentric  man,  it  is  said,  was  equally  at  home  on  the  platform  as  in  the  singing 
pew,  and  by  his  public  addresses  could  play  on  the  feelings  of  men,  by  turns  evoking 
tears  and  laughter.  His  name-sake,  Thomas  Holt,  was  of  different  type ;  quiet,  modest 
in  speech  and  act,  a  "  son  of  consolation."  Both  survived  until  1877.  James 
Whitehead  was  another  official  who  rendered  long  and  important  service.  He  threw 


EDMUND   HOLT. 


THOMAS   HOLT. 


THOMAS   WHITEHEAD. 


much  energy  into  the  discharge  of  his  varied  offices — Circuit  Steward,  Sunday  School 
superintendent,  class  leader,  and  local  preacher,  and  yet,  when  done,  had  a  surplus 
of  energy  left  to  draw  upon.  When  he  died  in  1865,  it  was  to  the  general  regret  of 
the  townsfolk  of  Rochdale,  as  well  as  of  his  own  people.  The  portraits  of  these  and 
one  or  two  other  early  workers  are  given  in  the  text. 


48 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHUItCH. 


STOCKPORT  :  WOODLEY. 

Stockport  and  the  places  thereabout  for  some  years  formed  part  of  the  Manchester 
Circuit.  One  of  the  early  workers  tells  how  he  and  his  fellow  "  locals  "  used  regularly 
to  walk  from  four  to  twelve  miles  on  a  Sunday  morning,  preach  indoors  and  out-of- 
doors,  pray  with  penitents,  and  then  tramp  back  again.  When  they  went  southward  to 
Stockport  or  beyond,  they  would  meet  in  the  evening  on  the  Lancashire  Bridge  and 
journey  home.  The  first  word  said  by  one  to  another  would  be,  "How  many  souls 
to-day,  lad  ? "  and  often  they  rejoiced  together  over  the  spoil  they  had  taken. 

To  some  appreciable  extent  Primitive  Methodism  had  been  influenced  by  Stockport 
"  Revivalism."  The  Revivalists  (amongst  whom  probably  were  Ebenezer  Pulcifer  and 


PRESENT   CHAPEL,    WELLINGTON   ROAD,    STOCKPOHT. 

James  Selby  of  Droylesden)  had  carried  the  fire  to  Congleton,  at  which  Hugh  Bourne's 
zeal  was  kindled  afresh.  They  set  causes  to  work  which  turned  James  Steele  into 
a  Revivalist,  and  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  William  Clowes  and  others  of  the 
fathers.  So  that  when  Primitive  Methodism  entered  Stockport  to  stay,  Stockport  was 
only  getting  its  own  with  usury.  From  this  time  onward,  Stockport  is  a  good  deal  to 
the  fore.  It  has  frequent  incidental  mention  in  the  records  of  the  time,  as  though  it 
were  a  place  which  lay  right  in  the  track  of  the  Church's  movements.  Our  founders 
not  unfrequently  came  this  way,  and  passed  through  or  tarried  here.  Thus  William 
Clowes  tells  us  that  just  after  the  District  Meeting  of  1828,  he  came  to  assist  in  the 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  49 

opening  of  a  new  chapel  at  Stockport  (Duke  Street),  and  found  that  his  congregation 
had  gained  admission  to  the  service  by  the  presentation  of  purchased  tickets.  The 
same  monetary  arrangement  obtained  in  1833,  when  he  preached  the  school  sermons. 

This  time  he  was  the  guest  of  "  friend  Beeston,"  and  it 
had  taken  him  two  days  to  get  from  Silsden,  riding, 
as  he  had  to  do,  through  heavy  rains,  behind  an 
unmanageable  horse.  The  present  chapel,  "  Ebenezer," 
Wellington  Road,  S.,  was  built  in  1882,  at  a  cost 
of  £6000. 

It  was  in  1831  that  Stockport  became  an  indepen- 
dent station,  with  John  Graham  and  R.  Kaye,  a 
native  of  Bolton,  as  its  preachers  and  "  one  wanted." 
Samuel  Smith  and  Jesse  Ashworth  are  names  closely 
associated  with  Stockport's  early  days.  The  former 
was  born  at  Denton,  a  village  near  Stockport,  and 
though  he  removed  to  Leeds  to  serve  his  apprenticeship, 
he  returned  in  1834  to  superintend  the  station  for  two 
busy  and  successful  years.  The  religious  services  of 

KEY.  SAMUEL   SMITH.  ,  -TV.         .  n,»-         •  <-      1^01-1^11 

the    District    Meeting    of    18oo,   held    at    otockport, 

resulted  in  the  conversion  of  more  than  forty  persons.  Samuel  Smith  must  be  regarded 
as  having  been  one  of  the  makers  of  the  original  Manchester  District.  He  travelled 
in  Manchester  itself  and  the  principal  stations  of  the  District,  and  finished  his 
useful  life  as  a  supernumerary -assistant  at  Stockport,  January,  1878,  aged  80  years. 
More  than  most,  Samuel  Smith  was  a  preacher  for  the  people,  and  he  had  their  social 
and  political  welfare  at  heart.  It  was  Stockport  which  first  sent  Richard  Cobden  to 
Parliament,  and  the  crusade  of  which  Cobden  and  Bright  were  the  leaders  had  Samuel 
Smith's  full  sympathy.  True,  the  Consolidated  Minutes  might  say :  "  He,  i.e., 
a  travelling  preacher,  must  not  deliver  speeches  at  political  meetings  "or  parliamen- 
tary elections,"  but  Samuel  Smith  and  a  few  others  probably  interpreted  this  to  mean 
that  they  were  only  prohibited  from  making  speeches  in  the  Tory  interest,  and  so  reading 
the  rule  they  took  care  to  observe  it  strictly.  S.  Smith's  ardent 
and  early  advocacy  of  Total  Abstinence  will  be  referred  to  when 
we  come  to  deal  with  Preston,  but  in  proof  of  his  practical 
sympathy  with  the  ameliorative  movements  of  his  day,  it  is  said 
that  he  was  elected  as  one  of  Lancashire's  representatives  on 
a  deputation  to  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  that  he  was  one  of  those 
who  pressed  upon  the  great  commoner  the  total  and  immediate 
abolition  of  the  corn  laws. 

It  was  during  his  term  in  Stockport  that  Samuel  Smith  took 
kindly  notice  of  Jesse  Ashworth,  then  a  youth  of  fourteen.     He 
succeeded  in  creating  in  his  young  mind  the  thirst  for  knowledge,      REV  j  ASHWOBTH 
and  especially  the  thirst  for  Biblical  knowledge.      He  took  him 
with  him  to  Gatley,  where  the  youth  gave  his  first  exhortation.      He  proposed  him  for 
the  plan,  and  the  same   year   young   Jesse   found   himself   at   sixteen   years  of   age 


50 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


W.  OHEKTHAM,  SEN. 


a  travelling  preacher.      This  was  in  1837,  and  the  duty  of  placing  on  record  the  facts 
and  an  estimate  of  his  long  and  useful  life  will  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  Conference  of  1904. 
In  the  roll  of  Stockport  Circuit's  early  worthies  the  following  names  should  have 
honourable    place : — J.    Penny,  first    Circuit    Steward,  and   local 
preacher,  W.  Cheetham,  sen.,  Circuit  Steward,  and  his  present 
successor,    W.    Cheetham,   jun.  ;     J.    Ashton,   the   first    Sunday 
School   Superintendent;  Thomas  Dunning,  a   noted  "local"  and 
street  preacher ;  John  Harrison,  local  preacher ;  and  J.  Peckston, 
Chapel  Treasurer  and  a  generous  supporter  of  the  cause. 

Woodley,  in  the  near  vicinage  of  Stockport  and,  since  1887, 
a  circuit  in  its  own  right,  has  had  a  long  and  interesting  history. 
It  was  opened  in  1822,  in  the  usual  way,  by  the  holding  of  open-air 
services.  It  much  needed  missioning.  The  candle  lighted  by 
Wesley  had  all  but  gone  out.  What  religion  it  had  was 
mainly  of  the  formal  inactive  type ;  "  dog-fighters,  cock-fighters 
and  man-fighters,"  on  the  contrary,  were  too  active,  and  our  missionaries  had  to 
contend  with  persecution  of  the  rude  and  mischievous  kind.  Two  houses  that 
were  successively  offered  were  as  quickly  closed  to  us  because 
of  this  activity  of  the  sons  of  Belial.  Whereupon  the  preacher 
for  the  day  made  an  appeal  to  his  out-door  audience,  and  one 
Israel  Burgess  felt  the  force  of  that  appeal.  He  feared  lest  the 
missionary  should,  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles,  shake  the 
dust  off  his  feet  and  depart,  and  hence  he  agreed,  if  his  family 
were  willing,  to  lend  his  house  for  the  services.  So  much  in 
earnest  were  they,  that  his  wife  walked  to  Stockport  to  announce 
to  the  preacher  their  acquiescence.  Services  were  held  here  for 
a  time,  until  a  room  in  a  warehouse  was  taken,  and  then  in  1835 
a  chapel  with  schools  below  was  built.  Young  Jesse  Ashworth 
was  present  at  the  opening  services  which  were  conducted  on 
successive  Sabbaths  by  Thomas  Holliday,  J.  A.  Bastow  and  John  Flesher,  the  last 
of  whom  thrilled  his  audience  as  he  preached  two  of  his  great  sermons — the 
Penitent  Thief,  and  the  Raising  of  the  Widow's  Son. 

A  blessing  rested  on  the  house  of  Israel  Burgess.  A  Burgess  was 
the  mother  and  grandmother  of  the  Staffords,  five  of  whom  served 
for  some  time  at  least  in  the  Primitive  Methodist  ministry ; 
the  most  widely  known  of  these  being  Samuel  Stafford  (1854-90), 
and  his  nephew,  Luke  Stafford,  whose  name  is  associated  with 
the  origin  of  the  Prayer  and  Bible  Reading  Union.  Henry 
Stafford,  the  father  of  the  latter,  was  for  forty-five  years  a  local 
preacher  in  the  Stockport  Circuit,  and  an  active  supporter  of  the 
cause  at  Woodley.  Bramall  too  is  a  name  to  be  mentioned  with 
respect  in  any  notice  of  the  early  history  of  our  Church  in  Woodley. 

KEV.  LUKE  STAFFORD. 

It  was  Edward  Bramall  who  began  the  Sabbath  school  in  his 
own  house.      For  two  Sundays  only  was  it  held  here,  being  then  removed  to  the  ware- 


REV.    S.    STAFFORD. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


51 


house,  which  served  until  the  schools  below  the  chapel  of  1835  could  be  utilised. 
In  1861  separate  schools  were  built.  Since  the  day  when  E.  Bramall  improvised  seats 
for  his  scholars  by  planks  placed  on  bricks,  progress  has  been  made.  Thomas  Bramall, 

now  retired  from  the  active  ministry,  was 

one  of  the  band  sent  out  by  Woodley. 
In  or  about  the  year  1849,  the  Church  at 

Woodley  was  strengthened  by  the  accession 

of  John   Lees  Buckley  to  its  ranks.     By 

dint  of  perseverance  he  overcame  initial 

difficulties    that    would    have    daunted    a 

weaker    man,   and  gained  an   honourable 

position  among  the  manufacturers  of  his 

district.     But  success  did  not  spoil  him. 

He  never  lost  his  pray  erf  uln  ess  or  his  relish 

for  spiritual  things.  Primitive  Methodism 
in  Woodley  and  the  district  owes  much,  especially  on  the  material  side,  to  the 
beneficence  and  steady  connexional  attachment  of  John  Lees  Buckley  and  his  family.. 
For  twenty  years  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  a  local  preacher, 
a  patron  of  the  Manchester  Institute,  a  working  member  of  various  district  and 
oonnexional  committees.  He  died  January  21st,  1880,  aged  65  years. 


MR.  HENKY    STAFFORD. 


MR.  J.  LEES  BUCKLEY. 


WOODLEY    PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHAPEL,  BUILT   1868. 


D2 


52  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  MISSIONING  OF  YORK  AND  LEEDS. 


IT  is  time  we  returned  to  Hull  to  see  what  that  Circuit  was  doing  for  the 
extension  of  the  Connexion.  An  authentic  document  of  the  time  ready 
to  our  hand  may  help  us  here.  It  is  a  letter  sent  to  Hugh  Bourne  by 
Richard  Jackson,  the  energetic  steward  of  Hull  Circuit.  The  letter,  dated 
March  20th,  1822,  reads  like  a  dispatch  from  the  seat  of  war — as  indeed  it  was.  We 
shall  have  to  refer  to  this  important  letter  again  when  we  come  to  speak  of  Hull's 
mission  to  Craven  and  to  Northumberland ;  that  part  of  the  letter  which  more 
immediately  concerns  us  here  is  this  statement :  "  It  is  two  years  and  nine  months 
since  Hull  was  made  a  circuit  town  ....  and  we  have  since  made  seven  circuits 
from  Hull,  viz.  : — Pocklington,  Brotherton,  Hutton  Rudby,  Malton,  Leeds,  Ripon  and 
York  Circuits."  The  formation  of  the  first  three  circuits  named  in  this  list  has  already 
been  described,  and  what  this  and  the  next  chapters  have  to  show  is  the  direction  and 
degree  of  the  geographical  extension  made  as  registered  by  the  formation  in  1822  of 
the  York,  Leeds,  Malton  and  Ripon  Circuits.  What  we  have  now  to  watch  and  discern 
the  meaning  of  is  the  establishment  of  strategic  centres  in  the  wide  county  of  York,  and 
the  organised  endeavour  to  occupy  for  the  Connexion  a  tract  of  country  which  now  forms 
a  considerable  part  of  the  Leeds  and  York,  and  Bradford  and  Halifax  districts. 

YORK. 

The  continuous  and  commanding  part  the  ancient  city  of  York  has  played  in  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  history  of  England  has  very  largely  been  the  outcome  of  its  unique 
geographical  position.  Lying  as  it  does  at  the  entratice  to  the  vale  of  York,  the  city 
has  held  the  key  to  the  Great  North  road  along  which  armies  and  travellers  and  mer- 
chants and  merchandise  were  bound  to  pass.  It  is  no  accident  that  the  mediaeval  city 
has  renewed  its  youth  as  a  great  railway  centre.  York  has  always  had  to  be  reckoned 
with,  and  even  Primitive  Methodist  missionaries  had  very  early  to  reckon  with  it. 
They  could  not  have  given  it  the  go-by  without  making  both  a  physical  and  moral 
detour  which  would  have  meant  bad  strategy  and  personal  dishonour.  To  evangelise 
Yorkshire  and  omit  York  would  indeed  have  been  to  play  Hamlet,  and  to  leave  Hamlet 
himself  out.  Hence,  within  six  months  of  Clowes'  entry  into  Hull,  we  find  him  con- 
fronted with  the  task  of  entering  York.  As  though  he  himself  were  fully  aware  of  the 
significance  of  the  event,  he  not  only  gives  its  exact  date,  but  a  graphic  description  of 
his  feelings  at  the  time,  and  of  the  circumstances  of  his  entry  which  were  not  without 
a  certain  dignity  and  picturesqueness.  The  account  must  be  given  in  Clowes'  own 
words  ;  nor  will  the  reader  fail  to  notice  his  feeling  of  the  inevitability  of  the  duty  that 
lay  before  him  as  evidenced  by  the  narrative.  As  Christ  "  must  needs  go  through 


THE   PEEIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


53 


Samaria,"  so  Clowes  felt  there  Vas  a  needs-be  that  he  must  deliver  his  testimony  in 

York. 

"  Being  now  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  city  of  York,  I  formed 
a  resolution,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  to  lift  up  my  banner  in 
that  far-famed  city  of  churches.  Accordingly,  I  sent  a  notice  to  the  city  crier 
to  announce  to  the  citizens  of  York  that  a  '  Ranter '  preacher  would  preach  on  the 
Pavement.  But  the  crier  sent  me  word  that  he  durst  not  give  public  notice  of  my 
purpose,  unless  I  first  obtained  sanction  of  the  Lord  Mayor.  Here  I  soon  found 
I  was  in  a  measure  locked  in  a  difficulty.  It  occurred  to  me  that  if  I  waited  upon 
his  lordship  to  solicit  permission,  he  would  very  probably  refuse  me  liberty  ;  and 


OLD  PAVEMENT,    YORK,   FKOM  AN  OLD  PAINTING  IN  THE  POSSESSION  OF  W.   CAMIDGE,   ESQ. 

were  I  to  attempt  preaching  after  a  denial,  very  likely  he  would  order  me  to 
prison ;  and  then  if  I  should  pass  by  the  city  without  bearing  my  testimony  in  it, 
my  conscience  would  remonstrate,  and  my  duty  to  God  and  my  fellow-creatures 
would  be  undischarged  ;  consequently,  I  determined  to  proceed  and  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  in  conformity  with  the  instructions  which  I  had 
received  from  Jesus  Christ,  without  asking  permission  of  any  one. 

"  Accordingly,  on   Monday,  May   24th,   1819,  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
I  stood  up  on  the  Pavement  in  the  Market-place,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  who 
had  so  often  supported  me  in  similar  enterprises.      I  commenced  the  service  by 
singing  the  fourteenth  hymn  in  the  small  hymn-book  : — 
"  Come,  oh  come,  thou  vilest  sinner,"  &c. 


54  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

In  a  short  time  the  people  drew  up  in  considerable  numbers,  and  the  shop-doors 
and  other  places  were  crowded.  All  was  very  quiet  until  I  had  sung  and  prayed, 
when  a  man  in  the  congregation  became  rather  uproarious  ;  but  I  got  my  eye  upon 
him,  and  he  was  checked.  When  I  had  proceeded  about  half-way  through  my 
discourse,  a  troop  of  horse  came  riding  up,  and  surrounded  the  congregation  and 
the  preacher.  The  devil  immediately  suggested  to  me  that  the  Lord  Mayor  had 
sent  the  soldiers  to  take  me,  under  the  idea  that  I  was  a  radical  speaker,  inciting 
the  people  to  rebellion ;  but  I  rallied  after  this  shot  from  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
went  on  exhorting  sinners  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  I  accordingly  concluded 
my  sermon  without  molestation  ;  the  soldiers  and  people  retiring  in  proper  order. 
Some  asked  me  who  I  was,  and  what  I  was ;  I  told  them  my  name  was  William 
Clowes,  and  that  in  principle  I  was  a  Methodist,  and  that  I  would  preach  there 
again  the  next  fortnight.  Accordingly,  I  took  up  my  staff  and  travelled  seven 
miles  to  sleep  that  evening  accompanied  by  a  few  friends." 

W.  Clowes'  promised  second  visit  to  York  was  not  paid  in  a  fortnight  as  announced  ; 
nor  it  would  seem  until  some  six  weeks  after.  But  before  the  summer  was  over,  not 
only  Clowes,  but  his  colleagues,  Sarah  Harrison  and  her  husband  at  separate  times 
preached  in  the  Thursday  Market  (St.  Sampson's  Square),  this  spot  being  probably 
chosen  as  better  adapted  for  the  purpose  than  the  Pavement.  Each  of  these  services 
had  features  in  common.  Behind  the  missionary,  on  each  occasion,  we  can  discern  the 
now  somewhat  shadowy  figures  of  village  friends  and  abettors  especially  belonging  to 
Elvington,  some  seven  miles  distant.  Here  lived  the  brothers  Bond,  well-to-do  farmers, 
whose  names  frequently  occur  in  the  early  journals  as  extending  hospitality  to  God's 
servants  and  in  other  ways  helping  to  establish  our  cause  in  these  parts,  and  notably  in 
York.  Elvington  was  in  a  sense  the  base  for  the  mission  to  York.  Clowes  took  his 
staff  and  travelled  on  to  Elvington  to  sleep  after  his  first  visit  to  the  city.  It  was  while 
at  Elvington  the  friends  urged  Sarah  Harrison  to  enter  York.  The  villagers  by  the 
Ouse  and  Derwent  were  proud  of  their  county-capital,  as  well  they  might  be.  They 
were  ambitious  that  their  missionaries  and  their  chief  city  should  be  on  good  terms  with 
each  other.  To  them  York  with  its  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  was  the  big  city. 
With  its  churches  and  minster,  its  Lord  Mayor  and  soldiery  and  Judges  of  Assize,  it 
stood  for  all  that  was  distinguished  and  impressive.  If  only  W.  Clowes  and  Sarah  and 
John  Harrison  would  go  up  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  take  York,  who  could 
tell  what  great  things  might  follow?  So  not  only  did  the  missionaries  go,  but  the 
villagers  went  with  them  for  company  and  support — only  they  went  with  diverse 
feelings.  For  it  is  very  noticeable  how  in  each  case  these  leading  missionaries  of  Hull 
Circuit  went  to  York  with  a  weight  of  anxiety  resting  upon  them  that  could  not  be 
concealed,  and  that  it  was  difficult  to  account  for.  It  seemed  as  though  the  dread  of 
the  city  rested  upon  them.  So  it  was  with  Sarah  Harrison  who  was  the  next  to  go. 
At  first  the  cross  appeared  too  heavy  for  her  to  take  up.  She  was  however  encouraged 
by  a  promise  from  several  to  accompany  her,  and  she  accordingly  went.  When  she 
was  entering  the  North  Gate  and  having  a  first  view  of  the  city  her  courage  was 
shaken,  and  for  some  time  she  felt  as  if  she  could  not  preach.  So  it  was  with 
Clowes :  "  On  my  way  [from  Elvington  to  York]  my  spirit  became  greatly  exercised ; 
heavy  trouble  pressed  upon  me ;  I  had  an  impression  of  fear  and  uneasy  apprehension 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


55 


respecting  my  mission  to  the  city.  However,  as  I  proceeded,  I  recollected  I  had 
counted  the  cost,  and  however  I  might  be  called  to  suffer,  truth  would  win  its  way 
and  God  would  be  glorified."  John  Harrison's  experience  was  almost  identical  with  the 
experience  of  his  colleagues  who  had  preceded  him.  "Tuesday,  July  6th,  I  and  my 
friend  left  for  York.  We  entered  the  city,  but  the  thought  of  having  to  preach  was  to 
me  a  great  trial :  I  trembled  with  a  great  trembling."  These  reminders  that  our 
pioneers  were  after  all  men  and  women  of  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and  had  their 
seasons  when  duty  which  they  would  not  flee  from  looked  formidable,  are  not  to  be 
disregarded,  for,  despite  the  tremors  of  the  flesh,  God  was  with  them  and  enabled 
them  to  deliver  their  testimony  in  Thursday  Market  with  power  and  success. 


ST.  SAMPSON'S  SQUARE,  YORK,  THEN*  CALLED  THURSDAY  MARKET,  WHERE  THREE  OPKN-AIR 

SERVICES  WERE  HELD. 

Sarah  Kirkland  preached  to  an  immense  crowd  at  the  corner  of  the  Thursday  Market 
from  a  butcher's  block,  obligingly  placed  at  her  disposal  by  its  owner  who  was 
a  Methodist.  As  for  Clowes,  thousands  gathered  round  him  as  he  preached,  but 
though  some  had  said  "  they  would  be  taken  up,"  to  his  surprise  "  not  a  tongue  of 
disapprobation  was  lifted  up,  all  was  quiet,  and  all  heard  the  truth  of  God  proclaimed 
with  the  deepest  attention."  John  Harrison  too  had  a  large  congregation  and  the 
people  "  gave  evidence  of  their  approval  of  the  truth  by  their  tears." 

As  the  result  of  these  memorable  visits  of  the  pioneers,  a  society  of  seven  members 
was  formed,  and  with  the  help  of  the  friends  at  Elvington  a  room  was  secured  in 
a  building  near  St.  Anthony's  Hall  (Blue  Coat  School),  Peaseholme  Green,  for  the 
holding  of  services.  The  society's  occupancy  of  this  room  was  but  a  brief  one,  lasting 


56 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


only  a  few  months.  Not  only  had  the  room  little  to  offer  in  the  way  of  comfort  or 
cheerfulness,  but  as  the  society  grew  its  inadequacy  became  more  and  more  apparent. 
Looking  round  for  more  eligible  quarters,  attention  was  turned  to  an  unoccupied  chapel 
in  Grape  Lane,  originally  built  for  the  Rev.  William  Wren  who  had  seceded  from  Lady 
Huntingdon's  Connexion  in  1781.  After  his  death,  three  years  after,  it  had  been  hired 
by  the  Congregationalists,  and  then  in  turn  occupied  by  the  New  Connexion,  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists,  the  Particular  Baptists,  and  Unitarian  Baptists ;  *  so  that  in  the 
thirty-nine  years  of  its  existence  as  a  building  it  had  changed  hands  and  denominations 
no  less  than  half-a-dozen  times.  Many  old  Nonconformist  meeting-houses  have  had 


\v 


GRAPE  LANE  CHAPEL.        THE  FIRST  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHAPEL   IN   TORK. 

a  strange,  eventful  history,  but  one  thinks  it  would  be  hard  to  find  one  with  a  more 
chequered  record  than  Grape  Lane.  Something  of  the  outward  appearance  of  the 
building,  which  for  thirty-one  years  served  as  our  denominational  centre  in  the  city  of 
York,  may  be  gathered  from  our  picture.  However  defective  it  might  be  according  to 
our  modern  standards  of  beauty  and  convenience,  Grape  Lane  was  a  decided  advance  on 
Peaseholme  Green,  and  so  the  building  was  secured,  G.  and  A.  Bond  of  Elvington, 

*  I  am  indebted  for  these  facts  to  "  Primitive  Methodism.  Its  Introduction  and  Development  in 
the  city  of  York,"  by  Wm.  Camidge,  P.E.H.S.  The  monograph  is  a  model  of  what  such  works 
should  be. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  57 

S.  Smith  tells  us,  becoming  surety  for  the  rent.  It  was  opened  on  July  2nd,  1820,  by 
John  Verity,  John  Woolhouse — both  of  whom  had  just  been  taken  out  as  preachers  by 
the  Hull  Circuit — and  by  W.  Clowes,  who  preached  in  the  evening.  The  opening 
services  coincided  in  time  with  the  formation  of  York  as  one  of  the  branches  of  Hull 
Circuit. 

From  the  manuscript  journals  of  Sampson  Turner  now  before  us  we  find  George 
Herod,  Sampson  Turner  and  Nathaniel  West  labouring  together  at  the  beginning  of 
1822  in  the  York  branch,  which  became  a  Circuit  in  March  of  the  same  year.  As  this 
is  the  first  time  JST.  West's  name  comes  before  us,  and  we  shall  hear  much  of  him  until 
1827,  a  few  words  respecting  this  remarkable  man  will  be  in  place.  He  was  an  Irish- 
man, and  when  we  first  see  him  in  1819,  he  wears  the  King's  uniform  and  is  known  as 
Corporal  West  of  the  King's  Bays.  He  was  a  man  every  inch  of  him ;  of  splendid 
physique,  more  than  six  feet  in  height,  and  with  good  natural  parts  sharpened  by 
discipline.  Altogether  he  was  a  man  to  impress  and  look  at  admiringly.  When  his 
regiment  was  stationed  at  Nottingham  he  was  drawn  to  the  room  in  the  Broad  Marsh 
and  got  soundly  converted.  He  soon  began  to  preach,  and  became  very  popular.  In 
Leeds,  to  which  town  the  King's  Bays  shortly  removed,  Corporal  West  attracted  great 
crowds  by  his  preaching.  While  at  Leeds  he  talked  so  much  of  the  Primitives — of 
their  zeal,  their  methods,  their  success,  that  the  desire  was  awakened  in  many  to  see 
and  hear  this  wonderful  people  for  themselves.  A  pious  young  woman,  a  Methodist, 
fell  in  love  with  the  handsome  soldier  and  offered  to  find  the  whole  or  greater  part 
of  the  money  to  purchase  his  discharge  from  the  army.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and 
N.  West  showed  his  gratitude  by  marrying  his  benefactress.  But  before  this  the  King's 
Bays  had  removed  to  York,  and  Corporal  West  may  have  been  one  of  the  troopers  who 
encircled  William  Clowes  when  he  preached  on  the  Pavement  on  May  19th.  Before 
the  summer  was  over  he  was  certainly  connected  with  the  York  Society,  for  Sarah 
Harrison  expresses  her  pleasure  at  meeting  with  him  on  her  third  visit  to  the  city  just 
after  the  preaching  room  had  been  taken.  By  May,  1820,  ex-corporal  West  was 
a  travelling  preacher  and,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  beginning  of  1822  we  find  him  one  of 
the  York  staff.  Beyond  this  point  we  need  not  at  present  follow  him.  » 

Grape  Lane  acquired  some  notoriety  at  first  from  the  persistent  attention  bestowed 
upon  it  by  a  band  of  miscreants — not  of  the  lowest  rank  in  the  social  scale — who 
resorted  to  all  the  familiar  devices  for  annoying  and  intimidating  the  preacher  and  his 
congregation,  which  we  need  not  stay  to  specify.  Unwilling  at  first  to  invoke  the  law 
for  their  own  protection,  the  Society  through  its  officers  seems  to  have  approached  Lord 
Dundas,  who  at  that  time  was  the  chief  city  magistrate.  To  his  credit,  be  it  said,  the 
Lord  Mayor  cast  his  influence  on  the  right  side  and  personally  attended  a  service  at 
which  John  Hutchinson  was  the  preacher.  No  preacher  could  have  wished  for  a  better 
behaved  congregation  than  John  Hutchinson  had  that  night,  and  it  was  thought  that  the 
action  of  Lord  Dundas  would  have  a  wholesome,  deterrent  effect.  But  the  persecution 
soon  began  again,  and  when  George  Herod  summoned  two  of  the  ringleaders  at  the 
Christmas  Sessions  of  1821  for  disturbing  public  worship,  he  lost  his  case,  and  was 
saddled  with  the  costs,  amounting  to  £16.  "Everything  appeared  clear  against  them, 
yet  when  the  trial  came  on,  they  somehow  or  other  got  brought  through,  which  very 


58  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

much  injured  our  temporal  concerns,"  says  N.  West.  Naturally  enough  the  freemen 
whom  the  authorities  were  reluctant  to  punish  as  they  deserved,  now  felt  freer  to  carry 
on  their  malpractices.  On  the  eve  of  holding  a  great  love-feast  in  York,  N.  West 
had  to  get  the  tickets  of  admission  printed  at  a  distant  town  and  withhold 
their  distribution  until  the  morning  of  the  love-feast,  in  order  to  hinder  the 
would-be  disturbers  from  getting  access  to  the  meeting  by  the  presentation  of 
tickets  they  had  themselves  got  printed.  By  this  precautionary  measure  "  we  kept 
a  great  mass  of  unbelief  away"  says  N.  West.  This  love -feast  of  the  24th  February, 
1822,  was  a  memorable  one.  Though  Mr.  Herod  was  conducting  a  second  circuit  love- 
feast  at  Easingwold  at  the  same  hour,  the  country  societies  sent  such  large  contingents 
that  some  eleven  hundred  persons  were  present,  and  the  meeting,  which  was  carried  on 
for  several  hours  until  Messrs.  Turner  and  West  and  the  other  labourers  were  quite 
exhausted,  resulted  in  some  forty  conversions.  It  was  just  about  this  time,  as  S.  Turner 
tells  us,  that  the  rebels  broke  the  vestry  window-shutters  all  to  pieces  while  he  was 
preaching,  and  three  young  men  were  taken  up  and  committed  to  the  Sessions  for  trial. 
This  time  the  disturbers  were  convicted,  and  the  reign  of  lawlessness  was  shaken  though 
it  did  not  end  until  some  considerable  time  after.  * 

The  first  plan  of  the  York  Circuit,  April — July,  1822,  shows  twenty -two  preache  rs 
all  told,  and  thirty-two  preaching  places.  Of  these,  with  the  exception  of  York,  only 
Easingwold  has,  since  1872,  become  the  head  of  an  independent  country  station.  The 
lines  of  development  to  be  followed  by  York  as  a  Circuit  were  already  in  1822  laid 
down.  All  round,  at  no  great  distance,  the  ground  was  occupied  or  earmarked  by 
branches  or  circuits  belonging  to  or  formed  from  Hull — Pocklington,  Brotherton, 
Tadcaster,  Ripon  and  Mai  ton.  Unless  it  had  attempted  distant  missions,  York  Circuit 
could  only  do  as  it  has  done — strengthen  and  extend  itself  within  the  progressive  city 
and  keep  firm  hold  of  the  adjacent  agricultural  villages.  It  could  not,  like  Scotter, 
Darlaston  or  Manchester,  hope  to  become  the  fruitful  mother  of 
circuits.  At  the  close  of  1824,  Tadcaster  Branch  was  attached 
to  York  Circuit,  and  so  continued  until  1826.  Probably,  never 
before,  or  since,  has  the  Circuit  covered  so  wide  an  area  as  it  did 
then,  when  four  preachers  were  on  the  ground,  two  of  whom  were 
Thomas  Batty  and  J.  Bywater. 

One  of  the  makers  of  York  Primitive  Methodism  was  William 
Rumfitt.  When  he  came  to  York  in  1822,  a  young  man  of 
nineteen,  he  was  already  a  local  preacher.  He  at  once  joined 
the  Society  in  Grape  Lane  which  he  found  "  in  a  low  and  feeble 
condition."  This  testimony  finds  incidental  confirmation  from  the 

MK.    W.   K  U  M  Fill'. 

contemporary  Journals  of  Sampson  Turner,  the  first  superintendent 

*  "Afterwards  I  suffered  great  annoyance.  They  came  into  the  room— smoked,  talked,  let 
sparrows  fly  to  put  out  the  lights,  etc.  So  I  went  to  law  and  won.  For  there  was  another  Lord 
Mayor  who  was  favourable  to  us.  He  told  them  he  would  imprison  every  one  of  them  on 
a  repetition  of  the  offence."  Notes  of  a  conversation  with  S.  Turner  taken  down  in  1874,  with 
which  his  Journal  agrees. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  59 

of  the  York  Circuit.  It  would  seem  there  were  difficulties  and  drawbacks,  having 
their  source  both  within  and  without  the  Church,  which  retarded  progress  ;  and  now 
and  again  the  records  betray  the  writer's  misgiving  that  the  whilom  branch  had  been 
granted  independence  before  it  was  quite  ready  for  it.  This  ink-faded  script  in  which 
Sampson  Turner  confides  to  us  his  exercises  of  soul,  is  but  a  sample 
of  the  superabundant  evidence  to  hand  showing  that  our  earliest 
societies  were  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  intrusion  and  governance 
of  men  of  mixed  motives  and  unsanctified  temper.  From  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  the  danger  was  inevitable.  Sharp  dis- 
cipline was  necessary  to  purge  "out  the  old  leaven;"  but  to  keep 
it  from  creeping  in  again  nothing  availed  more  effectually  than  a 
few  strong,  righteous,  far-seeing  officials,  always  on  the  spot — for 
"the  presence  of  the  morally  healthy  acts  as  a  kind  of  moral 
deodorizer."  So  true  is  this  that  those  circuits  which  steadily 
won  their  way  to  an  assured  position,  as  York  ultimately  did, 

REV.  J.  RUMFITT. 

were,  we  may  be  sure,  blessed  with  a  certain  number  01  these  moral 
deodorizers — natures  antipathetic  to  the  old  leaven. 

William  Rumfitt's  period  of  Church  activity  spanned  the  first  and  intermediate  periods 
of  our  Connexional  history.  As  we  have  seen  he  joined  the  York  Society  in  1822,  and 
it  was  in  1879  that  devout  men  carried  him  to  his  burial.  He  was  a  local  preacher 
during  the  whole  of  that  long  period,  and  a  class-leader  during  a  considerable  portion  of 
it,  besides  filling  other  offices.  Two  nights  in  each  week  were  devoted  by  him  to  the 
public  exercises  of  religion.  In  1857  he  was  elected  a  deed-poll  member,  and  so  seriously 
did  he  take  this  trust  that  for  twenty-one  years  in  succession  he  was  never  absent 
from  his  place  in  Conference.  While  his  house  was  a  kind  of  "  pilgrim's  inn " 
he  took  care  that  it  should  also  be  a  Church  in  which  Bible-reading,  praise,  prayer, 
and  talk  about  good  things  formed  the  constituents  of  the  domestic  atmosphere.  It 
was  according  to  the  fitness  of  things  that  the  children  nurtured  in  such  a  home 
should  carry  on  the  family  tradition ;  and  John  and  Charles  Rumfitt  (now  LL.D.,  and 
a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church)  both  entered  the  ministry,  the  former  travelling 
for  forty-one  years  (1852-93)  with  great  acceptance.  He  first 
began  to  preach  about  1845  in  association  with  Mr.  George  Wade 
who  also  from  1835  to  1871  was  a  useful  class-leader  and  prominent 
official  of  the  York  Circuit.  John  Rumtitt's  biographer  intimates 
that  at  this  time — that  is  in  the  "  Forties  " — Grape  Lane  was  at  its 
best,  and  York  Circuit  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  nourishing 
circuits  in  the  Connexion. 

Perhaps  the  very  success  of  Grape  Lane  in  these  closing  years 
of  the  first  period  was  one  chief  cause  of  its  undoing  and  final 
supersession.     Though  the  Church  improved,  Grape  Lane  and  its        MH  w  CAMIDGE 
locality  did  not  improve,  but  rather  degenerated  as  time  went  on.  _.F'H-HiS-, 

The  Historian  of  York 

The  approach  to  the  building  and  its  environment  were  equally      Primitive  Methodism, 
objectionable ;    and  its  structural  shortcomings  seriously  interfered  with  comfort  and 
the  efficiency  of  church-work.      Many  schemes  for  securing  a  more  eligible  centre  were 


60 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


SIK  JAMES   MEEK. 


canvassed,  but  with  little  practical  result  until,  under  the  vigorous  leadership  of  Jeremiah 
Dodsworth,  what  had  been  deemed  almost  too  much  to  hope  for  was  achieved. 
A  family  mansion  in  Little  Stonegate  was  bought  for  £800,  and  on  the  site  of  the 
demolished  building  Ebenezer  Chapel  was  erected  and  opened  in  November,  1851,  by 

Jeremiah  Dodsworth ;  two  famous  divines,  Dr.  Beaumont 
and  James  Parsons,  also  preaching  sermons  in  connection 
with  the  notable  event.  A  new  era  in  York  Primitive 
Methodism  began  by  the  dedication  to  the  service  of  God 
of  Ebenezer,  which  right  through  and  beyond  the  middle 
period  of  our  history  was  the  recognised  centre  of  Primi- 
tive Methodism  in  York.  How  many  old  Elmfieldians 
retain  vivid  recollections  of  the  march  to  and  from  the 
plain  chapel  in  Little  Stonegate  hard  by  the  venerable 
Cathedral  !  With  it,  too,  are  inseparably  associated  recol- 
lections of  Sir  James  Meek,  as  yet  our  only  Knight  and  man 
of  title,  who  it  must  be  confessed  wore  his  honours  meekly 
and  discharged  his  civic  and  Church  duties  with  true  gentle- 
manliness  and  modesty.  H.  J.  McCulloch  had  his  title 
too,  being  almost  invariably  known  as  "Captain,"  and 
he  was  for  some  years  actively  associated  with  Little 
Stonegate ;  at  one  time  indeed  having  charge  of  the  service  of  praise.  It  was  in 
1853  that  Alderman  James  Meek  transferred  his  membership  from  the  Wesleyans 
and  brought  his  class  with  him.  As  a  leader,  he  was  conscientious  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duties.  It.  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  him  to  travel  from  Scarborough,  or 
wherever  he  might  happen  to  be  at  the  time,  for  the  express  purpose  of  meeting  the 
members  of  his  class.  Though  we  thus  couple  Sir  James  Meek  and  "  Captain " 
McCulloch  in  the  same  paragraph,  because  Providence  made 
them  contemporaries  and  fellow-citizens  and  colleagues 
in  church-work,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  they  were 
very  different  men.  Propinquity  showed  them  to  be  a  pair 
of  opposites.  Not  only  were  they  marked  off  from  each 
other  by  external  differences  in  appearance,  tone,  manner, 
but  these  differences  ran  down  into  still  deeper  under- 
lying differences.  Yet  both  were  identified  with  Ebenezer 
and  interested  in  its  prosperity,  and  both,  though  in 
contrasted  ways,  played  their  part  in  those  wider 
connexional  movements,  near  the  vortex  of  which  York 
was  brought  by  the  founding  in  1854  of  Elmfield  school 
with  its  rudimentary  ministerial  training  college,  and  by 
the  establishment  in  1866  of  the  Primitive  Methodist 
Insurance  Company  with  its  managerial  office  at  York. 
To  these  we  shall  return  in  considering  the  origin  and 
development  of  our  Church  institutions.  Meanwhile,  let  it  be  noted  that  the  fact 
of  the  Conferences  of  1853  and  1864  being  held  at  York  seems  to  indicate  that 


CAPT.    H.    J.    MCCCLLOCH. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


61 


by  this  time  York  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  leading  circuit-towns  in 
our  Israel. 

Jeremiah  Dodsworth,  the  builder  of  Ebenezer,  deserves  more  than  a  passing  reference 
here,  and  this  for  various  reasons,  one  such  being  that  from  the  year  1839  to  1864, 
during  which  period  his  active  ministry  extended,  he  laboured  in  Leeds,  Malton, 
Keighley,  Burnley  and  other  Circuits  with  which  we  must  shortly  concern  ourselves. 
Mr.  Dodsworth  was  the  most  eminent  scion  of  a  family  which  both  in  its  parent  stock 
and  its  offshoots — in  Hull,  at  Aldershot,  and  even  at  the  Antipodes,  has  done  much  for 
Primitive  Methodism.  John  Dodsworth,  the  father,  who  died  in  1860,  aged  84,  was 
a  fine  specimen  of  patriarchal  piety,  and  the  mother  was  equally  distinguished  for  her 
feminine  graces.  Their  irreproachable  character  gave  reality  and  lustre  to  the  village 
church  of  Willoughby,  five  miles  from  Hull ;  indeed,  it  may  even  be  said  to  have  owed 
to  them  its  very  existence  and  continuance.  For  their  dwelling  for  many  years  did 

double  duty  as  a  place  of  public  worship  and 
house  of  entertainment  for  the  preachers,  and 
when  at  last  the  chapel  was  built,  it  stood  at 
the  corner  of  John  Dodsworth 's  garden,  the  site 
being  a  deed  of  gift  from  his  master  by  whom 
he  was  highly  esteemed.  Something  of  the 
old  saint's  character  may  be  gathered  from 
one  of  his  dying  utterances  :  "  I  am  climbing 
up  Jacob's  ladder  on  my  hands  and  knees,  and 
there  is  not  a  spell  from  bottom  to  top  that 
/  have  put  there.  It  was  built  by  mercy — all 
mercy." 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  even 
before  Jeremiah  Dodsworth  had  become  a  most 
effective  and  popular  preacher,  he  had  already 
proved  himself  a  Free  Church  stalwart  and 
champion  of  the  down-trodden  agricultural 
labourer  from  which  class  he  sprang.  As 
such  he  figures  somewhat  prominently  in 
Cobbett's  "  Legacy  to  Parsons,"  of  all  books 
in  the  world,  the  reason  being,  that  Jeremiah 
Dodsworth  was  one  of  the  last  to  refuse  pay- 
ment of  tithe  on  labourers'  wages — one  of  the  most  obnoxious  forms  of  impost 
soon  after  swept  away  by  the  legislative  besom.  He  was  charged  a  tithe  of  four 
shillings  and  fourpence  on  his  wages  by  the  Rev.  Francis  Lundy,  rector  of  Lockington, 
whose  living  was  of  the  annual  value  of  £532  ;  and  on  his  refusal  to  pay,  two  Justices 
of  the  Peace,  the  Rev.  J.  Blanchard,  another  pluralist  clergyman,  and  Robert  "Wylie, 
sentenced  him  to  pay  the  four  shillings  and  fourpence  and  the  costs  of  prosecution.  He, 
still  refusing  to  pay,  the  same  two  magistrates  issued  a  warrant  of  distress  against  his 
goods  and  chattels.  But  he  had  no  goods  and  chattels  to  distrain ;  so  Rev.  John 
Blanchard  as  magistrate  committed  him  to  the  House  of  Correction  at  Beverley,  there 


KEY.    J.    DOUSWORTH. 


62 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST  CHURCH. 


to  be  kept  for  the  space  of  three  calendar  months  as  punishment  for  not  paying  his 
"offerings,  oblations  and  obventions."  *  This  "village  Hampden "  and  hereafter 
successful  chapel-builder  and  popular  preacher  has  yet  stronger  claims  for  remembrance 
here,  as  having  in  his  later  years  become  one  of  the  most  popular  writers  our  Church  had 
as  yet  produced.  At  this  epoch,  as  we  know,  many  very  earnest  and  clever  people  were 
making  it  their  special  business  to  popularise  the  advancing  Puseyite  theology.  This  was 
their  mission  and  they  fulfilled  it  sedulously ;  and  so  tales  and  biographies  and  histories 
poured  from  the  press,  subtly  flavoured  with  sacramentarian  and  high-church  sentiment. 
In  like  manner,  Jeremiah  Dodsworth,  in  his  own  way,  sought  to  popularise  the  old 
Evangelical  theology.  The  theology  was  there  in  its  substance  and  essence,  but,  above 
all  his  books  were  readable,  written  in  a  pleasing,  flowing  style,  and  making  strong 
appeal  to  the  indestructible  feelings  of  men.  "  The  Eden  Family,"  and  "  The  Better 

Land"  especially,  like  James 
Grant's  kindred  book,"  Heaven 
our  Home,"  and  our  own  John 
Simpson's  "The  Prodigal  Son" 
were  good  exemplars  of  the 
popularised  Evangelical  theo- 
logy and  sentiment,  and  had  a 
vogue  far  beyond  their  writers' 
own  churches. 

Great  an  advance  as  Ebenezer 
was  on  Grape  Lane,  the  time 
came  when  "  Tekel  "— "  Thou 
art  found  wanting  " — was  seen 
to  be  written  on  its  broad  front. 
For  many  years  the  impres- 
sion deepened  that  after  a  half 
century's  occupancy,  the  time 
had  come  for  this  honoured 
sanctuary  to  make  way  for 
a  successor  that  should  worthi- 
ly mark  the  attainment  of  a 
further  stage  of  Connexional 
advance.  The  ampler  school 
and  vestry  accommodation  so 
sorely  needed  could  then  be  provided,  and  the  new  building  might  be  so  located  and 
planned  that  it  would  serve  as  the  pro-college  chapel  and  in  other  respects  fittingly 

*  "  Cobbett's  Legacy  to  Parsons."  The  facts  are  also  referred  to  in  "  Methodism  as  it  should  be," 
1857,  p.  249.  Neither  of  these  authorities  gives  the  slightest  hint  that  Mr.  Dodsworth  did  not  serve 
out  his  sentence.  But  Rev.  H.  Woodcock  in  his  "  Primitive  Methodism  in  the  Yorkshire  Wolds" 
(p.  113)  says :  ''  But  he  was  released,  and  we  believe  Mr.  B.  paid  him  £20."  If  the  clergyman  paid  the 
fine  and  costs  it  should  be  put  down  to  his  credit.  But  as  yet  diligent  inquiry  has  not  enabled  us  to 
verify  this  point. 


MONKGATE  CHURCH,  YOKK. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


63 


represent  the  oldest  interest  of  the  denomination  in  the  metropolitan  city.  Accord- 
ingly preparations  were  cautiously  made  to  effect  the  desired  change.  In  advance, 
a  block  of  property  in  Monkgate  was  bought  for  £1,000,  and  the  rents  of  this  in  time 
enabled  the  trustees  to  redeem  the  cost  of  purchase.  The  debt  on  Ebenezer  was  cleared 
and  the  building  sold  for  £2,000,  and  in  1902  the  "John  Petty  Memorial  Church"  was 
opened.  We  give  an  illustration  of  this  building  as  well  as  of  Monk  Bar  contiguous 
thereto ;  "  Bar  "  being  the  local  name  for  the  gates  by  which  the  walls  of  York,  2|  miles 
in  extent,  are  pierced. 

But  even  this  does  not  complete 
the  story  of  York's  enterprise  in 
chapel-building.  Forty  years  ago 
a  mission  was  started  across  the 
river  on  the  south-west  part  of 
the  city.  The  mission  prospered, 
and  in  1864  a  room  was  opened  in 
Nunnery  Lane  to  serve  as  a  chapel 
and  Sunday  school.  "  Ultimately," 
says  Mr.  Camidge,  "the  people 
of  the  Nunnery  Lane  Mission 
Room  built  Victoria  Bar  Chapel 
as  it  has  always  been  called.  It  is 
situate  just  within  the  opening  in 
the  Bar  walls,  which  opening  gives 
access  to  and  from  Bishophill  and 
Nunnery  Lane."  *  The  chapel 
was  opened  in  the  spring  of  1880, 
and  in  1883  York  Circuit  was 
divided,  Victoria  Bar  becoming  the 
head  of  York  Second  Circuit. 

LEEDS. 

We  are  fortunate  in  knowing 
the  exact  date  when  Primitive 
Methodism  was  introduced  into 
Leeds,  as  also  the  events  which  led 
up  to  it.  It  was  on  November  24th, 
1819,  when  Clowes  "opened  his  mission"  in  the  already  growing  West  Riding  town 
"  by  the  direction  of  the  providence  of  God."  In  these  carefully  chosen  words  Clowes 
may  be  supposed  to  refer  to  those  seemingly  detached  and  fortuitous  events  he  does 
not  stop  to  detail  which,  in  the  hand  of  Providence,  had  become  a  chain  to  draw  him 
to  Leeds,  as  before  he  had  been  drawn  to  Hull.  "  By  the  direction  of  the  providence 
of  God  !  "  so  might  Peter  have  spoken  of  his  arrival  at  the  house  of  Cornelius,  or  Paul 


MONK  BAR,    YORK. 
(Our  Chapel  just  through  the  Bar.) 


*  "  Primitive  Methodism :  Its  Introduction  and  Development  in  the  city  of  York." 


64  PRIMITIVE  METHODIST   CHURCH. 

of  his  first  landing  in  Europe  to  publish  the  gospel.  Our  chief  source  of  information  as 
to  these  preparatory  conditions  and  happenings  accounting  for  Clowes'  entry  into  Leeds, 
is  a  communication  addressed  to  George  Herod  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Smith,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  actors  in  the  events  he  describes.  It  may  be  claimed  for  the 
facts  detailed  by  S.  Smith,  that  they  are  not  only  interesting  in  themselves  as  throwing 
light  on  the  origins  of  Leeds  Primitive  Methodism,  but  that  they  have  a  still  higher 
value,  as  serving  to  relate  Primitive  Methodism  to  that  type  of  religious  activity  and 
phenomenon  of  the  time  we  have  called  "Revivalism."  After  all  that  has  been  written, 
we  need  not  once  more  indicate  what  is  sought  to  be  conveyed  by  that  word,  or  stay  to 
show  again  that  Revivalism  was  largely  a  survival  and  recrudescence  of  primitive 
doctrine  and  experience,  and  of  old-time  methods  of  evangelisation.  It  will  be  enough 
to  remind  ourselves  that,  right  along  our  course  thus  far,  from  Mow  Cop  to  the  Humber 


VICTORIA   BAR    CHURCH,    YORK. 


and  back  again  by  the  Peak  to  the  Mersey,  we  have  seen  this  fervid  aggressive  type  of 
religious  life  manifesting  itself,  in  ways  regular  or  irregular,  banned  or  tolerated.  It 
would  be  strange  indeed  were  we  to  miss  in  Leeds,  of  all  towns  in  England,  what  we 
met  with  in.  Nottingham  and  Hull  and  Manchester.  We  think  of  Leeds  as  a  freedom - 
loving  town.  At  this  particular  time  it  was  a  stronghold  of  Nonconformity.  Methodism 
had  struck  its  roots  deep  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Not  many  years  before,  the  town 
and  neighbourhood  had  been  set  on  fire  by  William  Bramwell's  ministry  of  flame.  In 
such  a  town  one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  those  whose  proclivities  lay  in  the 
direction  of  Revivalism  to  be,  not  less  but  rather  more  numerous  than  elsewhere,  and 
a  knowledge  of  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Leeds  would  but  justify  the  expectation. 
But  narrowing  our  view :  it  was  a  band  of  Revivalists,  Primitive  Methodists  in  spirit, 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE  AND   ENTERPRISE. 


65 


though  not  in  name,  who  were  responsible  for  W.  Clowes'  coming  to  Leeds.      Through 
them  Providence  lifted  the  beckoning  finger  and  the  signal  was  obeyed. 

The  Rev.  S.  Smith  tells  us  that  in  1818 — the  year  William  Bramwell  suddenly 
expired  in  Leeds — "  he  commenced  a  mission  in  the  low  places  of  Leeds  and  the 
vicinity,  and  in  a  little  time  he  was  joined  in  it  by  John  Verity  and  thirteen  young 
men — all  zealous  to  employ  their  spare  time  in  the  work  of  visiting  and  preaching  to 
the  low,  degraded  and  neglected  dwellers  in  yards,  alleys,  back  streets  and  cellars.  Not 
one  of  them,  except  John  Verity,  was  connected  as  a  preacher  with  any  religious  com- 
munity, but  upwards  of  one  hundred  persons  were  through  their  labours  brought  to 
God  and  joined  some  religious  society."  As  yet  they  had  not  as  much  as  heard  of 
Primitive  Methodism  as  an  organised  form  of  aggressive  religion ;  but  they  were  soon 


IN   1830. 


to  hear.  First  of  all,  during  the  summer  of  1819,  Corporal  West  of  "The  Bays"  was 
billeted  with  his  troop  in  the  town.  He  did  not  hide  his  light  under  a  bushel.  Alike 
in  his  preaching  to  which  he  zealously  gave  himself,  and  in  conversation,  he  spoke  of 
his  recent  conversion  at  Nottingham  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Primitive 
Methodists,  whose  preachers  he  extolled,  awakening  the  desire  in  many  to  see  and 
hear  them  for  themselves.*  Then  in  the  columns  of  a  certain  Hull  newspaper  called  the 
RockingTiam,  there  were  occasional  notices  of  a  strange  people  who  had  made  their 
appearance  in  that  town  and  were  carrying  all  before  them.  Of  course  the  notices  were 

*  See  Memoir  of  Rev.  John  Hopkinson  in  the  Magazine  for  1859,  p.  386,  where  however  the 
writer,  Eev.  H.  Gunns,  speaks  of  "  a  Mr.  West,  an  officer  of  a  regiment  of  cavalry,"  evidently  with 
no  knowledge  that  this  person  was  identical  with  the  soou-to-be  Rev.  Nathaniel  West. 


66  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

both  facetious  and  spiteful.  They  were  described  as  "  weaving  brown  coats,  strong  shoes 
and  corduroy  small-clothes ;  as  having  all  things  in  common,  and  also  that  they  had 
eaten  up  the  whole  substance  of  several  farmers."  These  paragraphs  were  read  with 
interest,  for  though  the  notices  were  coloured  and  even  distorted  by  the  prejudiced 
media  through  which  they  had  passed,  these  Leeds  Revivalists  were  still  able  to 
perceive  several  points  of  similarity  between  the  "  Kanters "  and  themselves,  one 
being  that  they  were  both  "  spoken  against "  for  trying  to  do  good  in  unconventional 
ways ;  so  that  what  they  read  only  inflamed  their  desire  to  know  more  of  the  com- 
munity jibed  at  by  the  BoeMngham.  Finally,  the  rumour  went  that  the  "  Ranters  " 
had  now  reached  Ferry  Bridge,  whereupon  counsel  was  taken,  and  it  was  arranged  to 
send  John  Verity  and  J.  Atkinson,  "  Esq.,"  of  Hunslet,  to  get  to  know  all  they  could 
respecting  the  people  about  whom  there  were  such  strange  reports.  The  deputation 
seems  to  have  proceeded  to  Ferrybridge  early  in  September,*  and  what  success  it  met 
with,  together  with  the  rest  of  S.  Smith's  story,  he  shall  be  allowed  to  tell  in  his  own 
words :  — 

"  Mr.  Atkinson  called  on  Mr.  Joseph  Bailey,  who  kept  a  boarding-school,  and  with 
whom  he  had  been  partially  educated.  Messrs.  Atkinson  and  Verity  were  much 
surprised  to  find  that  Mr.  Bailey  was  a  member  of  this  new  community.  He  introduced 
them  to  the  preacher  for  the  day,  the  late  Samuel  Laister,  of  Market  Weighton,  who 
preached  in  the  open  air,  and  published  for  John  Verity  to  preach  in  the  afternoon  : 
with  which  appointment  the  latter  complied.  While  J.  V.  was  engaged  in  the 
preaching  service,  a  passenger  on  the  London  and  Leeds  coach — 'The  Union' — saw 
him,  and,  knowing  him,  reported  the  circumstances  to  the  Methodist  Leaders'  Meeting 
on  the  Monday  following.  Action  was  taken  upon  it,  and  John  Verity,  in  his  absence, 
was  suspended  from  his  office  as  a  leader,  and  a  Mr.  Brooks  was  appointed  to  attend 
his  class  on  the  Tuesday  evening.  When  John  Verity  returned  on  the  Tuesday,  I  made 
him  acquainted  with  the  doings  of  the  Leaders'  Meeting  as  far  as  I  had  heard.  H  is 
class  met  in  the  Wesley  Chapel  vestry  in  Meadow  Lane.  I  accompanied  him  to  the 
meeting  where  we  found  Mr.  Brooks,  who  stated  his  case,  and  absolutely  refused 
John  Verity  permission  to  pray  with  the  people ;  but  he  did  pray,  and  Mr.  Brooks 
sang  during  the  time.  I  begged  J.  V.  to  retire,  as  such  doings  could  be  of  no  service. 
We  retired  to  his  house  and  talked  matters  over,  and  agreed  to  write  to  Hull,  inviting 
the  'Ranters'  to  visit  Leeds,  and  promising  we  would  join  them.  We  that  night 
wrote  a  joint  letter,  addressed  to  'The  Ranter  Preacher,  Hull.'  The  contents  of  the 
letter  were  to  the  effect  that,  if  a  preacher  were  sent  to  Leeds,  we  would  provide  for 
him  board  and  lodgings  for  three  months  in  order  that  he  might  make  a  fair  trial. 
The  parties  agreeing  were  John  Verity,  J.  Atkinson,  Esq.,  J.  Howard,  surgeon,  and 
Samuel  Smith.  To  this  letter  we  received  an  answer  in  a  few  days  signed  '  R.  Jackson, 
Circuit  Steward,'  saying  : — '  We  will  send  a  preacher  as  soon  as  we  have  one  at  liberty  ; 
in  the  meantime  we  advise  you  to  go  on,  plan  your  preachers,  open  new  places,  and 
form  classes,'  etc.  They  also  sent  three  hundred  hymn-books  and  one  hundred  rules 
which  had  been  drawn  up  at  the  Nottingham  Preparatory  Meeting  a  few  weeks  before. 
On  the  Thursday  following  I  formed  a  class  in  Mrs.  Taylor's  [house],  at  the  top  of 

*  S.  Smith  says  about  the  last  Sabbath  in  August.  But  as  they  had  previously  read  in  the 
Rockingham  of  the  opening  of  West  Street  Chapel,  which  was  not  opened  until  September  10th, 
it  cannot  well  have  been  before  the  17th  September. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  67 

Kirkgate,  and  John  Verity  formed  one  at  Mrs.  Hopkinson's,  in  Hunslet  Lane  .  .  . 
We  made  a  plan,  and  on  it  we  had  seven  preachers  ;  and  we  then  proceeded  to  open 
places,  being  known  only  by  the  name  of  '  Ranters.'  We  opened  Mrs.  Taylor's  cellar  for 
preaching,  and  Mrs.  Hopkinson's  house — both  in  Leeds.  We  entered  the  villages  of 
Armley,  Busten  Park,  Hughend,  Hunslet,  Woodhouse-car,  and  Wortley.  In  each  of 
these  places  we  formed  a  class." 

So  much  for  the  series  of  occurrences  which  led  to  Clowes'  first  visit  to  Leeds. 
S.  Smith  then  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  circumstances  of  the  visit  itself.  The  account  he 
gives  is  in  substantial  agreement  with  that  Clowes  himself  gives  twice  over  in  his 
Journal,  although,  when  the  two  accounts  are  compared,  we  recognise  differences  in 
detail,  reminding  us  in  an  interesting  way  that  our  knowledge  of  the  simplest  event  of 
history  is,  after  all,  only  relative  and  approximate ;  that  no  two  persons  will  quite 
independently  write  of  what  they  once  saw  and  took  part  in  without  their  narratives 
exhibiting  variations.  What  seems  clear  when  we  compare  and  harmonise  the  two 
versions  is,  that  Clowes  was  accompanied  to  Leeds  by  Mr.  John  Bailey,  the  schoolmaster 
of  Ferrybridge,  and  that,  indirectly  at  least,  through  him,  the  Thursday  evening  service 
was  held  in  the  schoolroom  in  Kirkgate  belonging  to  Mr.  Bean.  Clowes  remarks  that 
as  some  of  the  people  left  this  service,  they  were  heard  to  say  that  what  they  had  been 
listening  to  was  "the  right  kind  of  stuff."  Next  day  Clowes  went  on  to  Dewsbury  and 
preached  there  for  the  first  time  in  the  house  of  Mr.  J.  Boothroyd.  For  the  Sunday 
services  Messrs.  Smith  and  Verity  secured  a  large  room  in  the  third  story  of  Sampson's 
waggon  warehouse,  in  Longbaulk  Lane,  used  by  a  dancing  master  on  the  week  day ; 
and  Clowes  also  employed  the  bellman  to  go  round  the  town  announcing  that 
"  A  Ranter's  preacher  from  Hull  would  preach  in  Sampson's  warehouse,  on  Sunday 
morning,  at  ten  o'clock."  When  Sunday  came,  the  first  service  ended  without  any 
special  incident,  but  in  the  afternoon,  while  a  Mr.  Hirst  was  conducting  the  service, 
an  interruption  occurred.  The  redoubtable  Sampson  himself,  whom  Clowes  graphically 
describes  as  bent  on  opposition  and  full  of  subtlety,  came  to  the  top  of  the  stairs  and 
cried  that  the  building  was  falling,  and  a  stampede  began,  which  was  only  stopped  by 
Clowes  striking  up  the  hymn  :  "  Come,  oh  come,  thou  vilest  sinner."  After  an  exhorta- 
tion by  Mr.  Bailey,  it  was  given  out  that  another  service  would  be  held  in  the  evening, 
and  the  congregation  dispersed ;  but  when  the  hour  for  evening  service  came,  it  was 
found  that  Sampson  had  hung  a  padlock  on  the  warehouse  door,  and  they  were  fain  to 
hold  their  service  in  Mrs.  Taylor's  cellar  instead  of  in  "the  upper  room."  Clowes 
admits  that  Sampson  and  his  padlock  had  for  the  moment  nonplussed  him ;  but  he 
thankfully  records  that,  as  usual,  the  devil  had  outwitted  himself,  for  a  man  came 
late  to  the  warehouse,  expecting  a  service,  and,  finding  the  "door  was  shut,"  was  led  to 
reflect  that  so  also  it  might  be  at  last  when  he  came  up  to  heaven's  gate  if  he  did  not 
there  and  then  repent,  which,  happily,  he  did.  S.  Smith  records  that  during  this  visit 
Clowes  met  the  members — fifty-seven  in  number,  in  Mrs.  Hopkinson's  house,  and 
incorporated  them  with  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion. 

W.  Clowes  always  claimed  to  have  been  Hull  Circuit's  leading  missionary  to  Leeds 
and  its  neighbouring  towns  and  villages — and  with  good  reason.  It  is  evident  from  his 
published  Journal,  as  well  as  from  private  documents  in  his  hand  in  our  possession,  that 

E  2 


68 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


REV,  JOHN  HOPKINSON. 


the  experiences  he  met  with  during  these  pioneer  visits  made  a  deep  impression  on  his 
mind  and  were  often  recalled.  He  knew  what  it  was  to  endure  privation  and  suffer 
inconvenience.  At  first  accommodation  was  poor  and  not  always  available,  except  when 
paid  for,  and  it  behoved  him  to  be  careful  in  spending  the  circuit's 
money,  in  view  of  possible  embarrassments.  Hence,  he  was  some- 
times in  straits  and  had  to  lodge  where  he  could — occasionally  in 
rather  strange  places.  But  a  change  for  the  better  soon  took 
place,  and  we  find  him  thankfully  recording:  "I  now  had  my 
home  with  Mr.  Smith  at  the  top  of  Kirkgate,  whose  family 
offered  to  shelter  me  at  all  times  of  my  need.  I  cannot  help 
reflecting  on  the  change  that  I  have  experienced  in  these  circum- 
stances. When  I  first  came  to  Leeds  I  lodged  in  public-houses, 
and  went  supperless  to  bed." 

Still,  Mr.  Clowes'  visits  to  these  parts,  though  pretty  frequent, 
were  only  flying  ones,  and,  unless  there  had  been  some  reliable  men 

on  the  ground,  a  permanent  interest  could  scarcely  have  been  built  up.  But  there  were 
such  reliable  men  who,  as'  personal  factors  in  the  upbuilding  of  Primitive  Methodism 
in  Leeds  and  around,  demand  recognition.  Messrs.  Verity  and  S.  Smith  almost 
immediately  entered  the  ministry,  but  their  places  were  taken  and  their  work  carried 
on  by  others.  Two  of  these  also  became  travelling  preachers — John  Hopkinson  and 
John  Bywater — but  not  until  they  had  rendered  effective  service  locally,  while  John 
Reynard  remained  on  the  ground  until  his  death  in  1854,  and  was  a  tower  of  strength 
to  the  societies. 

John  Hopkinson,  born  at  Ardsley  near  Wakefield,  in  1801,  was  the  son  of  the 
Mrs.  Hopkinson  in  whose  house  W.  Clowes  enrolled  the  members  of  the  first  class. 
He  received  his  first  spiritual  good  amongst  the  Wesleyans,  but  when  John  Verity  was 
expelled  for  complicity  with  "  Ranterism,"  he  joined  the  new  community.  His  reasons 
for  doing  so,  as  stated  by  himself,  are  worth  giving.  They  were: — (1)  His  strong 
attachment  to  J.  Verity,  who  was  his  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend.  (2)  The  simple, 
pointed  style  of  their  preaching  was  congenial  to  his  taste.  (3) 
Their  open-air  movements  he  cordially  approved.  (4)  Their 
field  of  action  found  employment  for  talents  of  the  humblest 
order.  So,  under  the  stress  of  these  views  and  considerations, 
he  became  a  Primitive  Methodist.  He  undertook  the  leader- 
ship of  the  society  at  Dudley  Hill,  though  it  was  eleven  miles 
from  his  residence.  In  1820  he  began  to  preach,  and  three 
years  after  he  entered  the  ministry,  and  for  thirty-five  years  he 
continued  in  active  service.  In  summing  up  his  character  and 
work  his  biographer  has  stated  :  "  He  was  an  exemplary  Christian 
and  a  laborious-vminister.  .  .  .  He  was  connected  with  the 
admission  of  3700  members  into  society;  his  prayers  were  pointed; 

his  sermons  well  arranged  and  powerful;  he  travelled  on  twenty -five  stations.  He 
faithfully  served  God  and  his  generation,  and  his  end  was  peace."* 

*  Memoir  in  the  Magazine  for  1859,  p.  391. 


REV.  JOHN  BYWATER. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  69 

John  By-water  is  a  name  that  calls  for  rehabilitation.  He  has  received  but  scant 
recognition  and  fallen  into  undeserved  neglect.  Until  the  late  Dr.  Joseph  Wood 
chivalrously  vindicated  his  name,*  little  remained  to  show  the  kind  of  man  he  was,  and 
how  worthy  to  be  remembered  by  the  denomination  he  served  so  well.  True  :  there  is 
the  official  memoir  in  the  Conference  Minutes  of  1870,  but  there  is  little  else ;  and  that 
memoir  is  so  short  that  it  can  be  given  here  in  its  entirety  without  making  undue 
demands  on  our  space.  Says  the  official  penman : — 

"  John  Bywater  was  a  native  of  the  town  of  Leeds,  Yorkshire.  In  his  youth  he 
was  converted  to  God  and  united  with  the  Primitive  Methodists.  He  commenced 
his  itinerant  ministry  at  the  Conference  of  1825,  and  subsequently  laboured  in  and 
superintended  some  of  the  most  important  circuits  in  the  Connexion.  For  five 
years  he  was  General  Missionary  Secretary.  He  was  superannuated  by  the  Con- 
ference of  1860,  and  died  at  Cote  Houses  in  the  Scotter  Circuit,  October  12th,  1869, 
aged  65  years." 

Between  the  facts  here  stated  and  the  shortness  of  the  notice  there  is  a  striking  dis- 
parity. We  need  not  go  into  the  reasons  for  this  studied  brevity  and  speedy  relapse 
into  silence.  The  reasons — if  reasons  there  were,  hold  good  no  longer,  and  it  is  time 
we  saw  the  man  in  his  true  perspective  and  proportions.  If  he  did  through  inexperience 
and  shattered  health  fail  comparatively  as  a  farmer,  on  his  enforced  and  somewhat  early 
retirement,  he  had  not  failed  as  a  chapel-builder,  as  an  administrator,  as  a  preacher,  as 
a  friend,  as  a  Christian  minister.  Thus  much  is  due  to  his  name.  In  Leeds,  young 
Bywater  was  true  and  loyal.  During  the  early  troubles  which  overtook  the  society,  we 
are  told  that  John  Hopkinson  and  John  Bywater  were  true  comrades  and  yoke-fellows ; 
"they  stood  firm  for  Connexional  rule,  and  almost  laboured  themselves  into  the  grave 
to  save  the  cause  from  wreck ;  and  success  crowned  their  efforts." 

The  allusion  here  made  to  the  storm-cloud  which  burst  over  Leeds  Primitive  Methodism 
in  the  early  days,  calls  for  a  little  fuller  reference  before  we  go  on  to  glance  at  one  or 
two  other  workers.  "  Revivalism,"  as  we  have  defined  it,  did  Primitive  Methodism 
some  good ;  it  also  did  it  some  harm.  So  Leeds,  like  other  places,  found  to  its  cost. 
Revivalism  helped  to  found  the  Leeds  Society,  and  it  all  but  succeeded  in  shattering  it. 
We  have,  in  writing  of  Hull,  referred  to  the  group  of  preaching  and  praying  women — 
notably  Ann  Carr,  Miss  Williams,  and  Miss  Healand — who  carried  on  evangelistic 
labours  in  Lincolnshire  and  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire.  There  is  evidence  to  show 
that  the  Misses  Carr  and  Williams  were  counted  as  Primitive  Methodists,  and  not  merely 
accepted  as  unattached  auxiliaries.  At  the  March,  1820,  Quarter  Day  of  the  Hull 
Circuit,  a  letter  was  sent  to  Miss  Carr  asking  if  she  were  willing  to  enter  the  ministry. 
Ann  Carr  was  born  at  Market  Rasen  in  1738,  and  died  June  18th,  1841.  In  Leeds 
she  and  her  friend  Williams  laboured  hard  and  formed  many  friendships.  There  was 
a  good  deal  of  the  masculine  in  Ann  Carr's  composition,  and  neither  she  nor  her 
colleague  took  very  kindly  to  the  yoke  imposed  by  a  regularly  organised  Connexion. 
They  preferred  to  hold  a  roving  commission  and  to  take  an  erratic  course,  letting  fancy 

*  "  Becollections  of  John  Bywater  and  Early  Chapel-building  in  the  town  of  Hull  by  J.  "Wood,  D.D." 

Aldersgate  Magazine,  1898. 


70 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 


or  circumstances  determine  their  direction  and  procedure.  It  is  intimated  by  Mr.  George 
Allen  that  they  had  no  predilection  for  the  plan,  but  were  quite  willing  on  invitation  to 
take  the  pulpits  of  those  who  were  planned,  and  that  misunderstandings  and  collisions 
were  the  natural  result.  Being  called  to  account  for  irregular  movements  associated 
with  officiousness,  they  took  offence  and,  parading  their  grievances,  made  a  division. 
A  chapel  was  ultimately  built  by  the  separatists  in  Leyland,  which  became  known  as 
Ann  Carr's  Chapel.  This  interest  was  sustained  with  varying  success  for  a  long  period. 
At  length  signs  of  physical  and  mental  failure  began  to  show  themselves  in  the  once 
vigorous  woman,  and  a  short  time  before  her  death  Ann  Carr  went  back  to  her  first 
love  and  reunited  with  the  Wesleyans,  who  purchased  her  chapel.  A  "  Life  "  of  her 
was  published,  peculiar  in  this  that  it  is  almost  silent  as  to  her  former  connection  with 
our  Church.  Any  one  unacquainted  with  her  career  would  never  suspect  on  reading 
the  book  that  she  was  at  one  time  so  prominent  a  Primitive  Methodist.  The  memoirs 
in  God's  book  are  written  with  greater  impartiality. 

When  the  clouds  rolled  by,  John  Reynard  was  found  at  his  post.  Born  in  1800,  Mr. 
Reynard  was  converted  through  hearing  Gideon  Ousley  (the  famous  Irish  evangelist), 
on  one  of  his  visits  to  Leeds.  He  iinited  with  the  Wesleyans  and  remained  with  them 
until  1820,  when  he  was  invited  by  S.  Smith  (whose  sister  he  married)  to  attend  the 
preaching  service  then  held  in  a  house  in  Hill-house  Bank. 

"  He  acceded  to  the  invitation  and  was  edified  and  blessed  ;  so  much  so  that  he 
said  to  his  friend  :  '  I  shall  walk  into  the  country  this  afternoon,  and  if  the  society 
be  as  lively  there  as  it  is  in  Leeds  I  shall  join  you.'  The  two  walked  to  Armley  for 
the  afternoon  service.  Mr.  J.  Flockton  preached,  and  the  same  Divine  influence 
attended  the  Word  as  had  been  felt  during  the  morning  service  in  Leeds.  Mr. 
Reynard,  therefore,  decided  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  our  people,  and  on  May  16th, 
1820,  he  joined  Mr.  J.  Button's  class.  When  Mr.  Button  was  taken  out  to  travel 
he  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  class,  and  continued  its  leader  for  many 
years." — Memoir  in  Magazine,  1855,  pp.  193-4. 

The  estimate  of  Mr.  Reynard's  character,  as  given  by  Mr. 
Petty  in  his  "History,"  needs  no  revision.  It  is  just  and  dis- 
criminating, and  hence  worthy  to  be  handed  down  as  a  carefully 
written  judgment  based  on  personal  knowledge. 

"  Mr.  Reynard,  says  Mr.  Petty,  soon  became  a  useful  and 
distinguished  member.  Possessing  promising  talents,  he 
was  speedily  called  to  exercise  his  gifts  in  public  speak- 
ing, in  which  he  proved  to  be  more  than  ordinarily 
acceptable  and  useful.  He  had  a  sound  judgment,  clear 
views  of  evangelical  truth,  a  retentive  memory,  a  ready 
command  of  language,  a  distinct  utterance,  and  consider- 
able power  over  an  audience.  His  pulpit  and  platform 
efforts  were  highly  estimated  everywhere,  and  were 
frequently  in  requisition,  both  in  his  own  circuit,  and 
in  numerous  other  stations.  For  thirty-four  years  he 

devoted    his   energies    to   the    work   of  a   local    preacher,    and    reaped   a   large 
.measure  of  success.     He  was  an  enlightened  and  ardent  friend  of  the  community 


MR.    JOHN   REYNARD, 
OF  LEEDS. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


71 


MRS.  BROGDEX. 


of  which  he  was  an  ornament,  and  took  a  large  share  in  its  most  important 
transactions.  He  was  not  only  a  leading  man  in  his  own  circuit,  where  his 
influence  was  great,  and  beneficially  exerted  ;  but  was  likewise  raised  to  the 
highest  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility  which  the  Connexion 
could  confer  upon  a  layman,  being  constituted  a  permanent  member 
of  Conference,  which  he  regularly  attended,  and  at  which  he 
rendered  valuable  service.  He  pursued  a  sound  course  in  matters 
of  Church  business,  and  studied  to  promote  the  best  interests  of 
the  Connexion.  For  some  time  previous  to  his  death,  it  was 
evident  to  his  friends  that  he  was  ripening  for  the  garner  of  God. 
He  became  increasingly  dead  to  the  world,  and  more  spiritual 
and  heavenly  in  his  temper  and  disposition.  His  removal  to  the 
celestial  country  was  affectingly  sudden.  On  Sunday,  December 
17th,  1854,  he  attended  his  preaching  appointment  at  Kippax, 
near  Leeds,  and  while  engaged  in  prayer  in  the  congregation,  his 
voice  began  to  fail,  and  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to  utter, 
were,  '  Lord  Jesus,  bless  me  !  O  God  !  come  to  my  help  ! '  A  paralytic  stroke 
deprived  him  of  speech,  and  of  the  use  of  his  right  side.  He  lingered  until  the 
Wednesday  following,  when  he  expired  without  a  lingering  groan,  aged  fifty- 
four  years.  On  December  24th,  1854,  '  devout  men  carried  him  to  his  burial 
in  Woodhouse  Cemetery,  and  made  great  lamentation  over  him.'  He  died  com- 
paratively young ;  but  he  had  been  permitted  to  perform  a  large  share  of  useful 
service  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  to  the  glory  of  his  Saviour's  name." 

It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  fifty  years  after  Mr.  Reynard's  death  the  family  has  still 
its  representatives  in  Leeds  Primitive  Methodism.  We  give  the  portrait  of  his  amiable 
daughter,  the  late  Mrs.  Brogden,  whose  husband,  Mr.  Alexander  Brogden,  was  an 
earnest  worker  in  our  Church,  and  for  many  years  superintendent  of  Quarry  Hill 
Sunday  school ;  while  Mrs.  Brogden  herself  (obiit  -December,  1902)  was  for  ten 
years  a  class-leader,  and  also  a  successful  Sabbath  school  teacher  at  Quarry  Hill 
and  Belle  Vue. 

If  John  Keynard  was  the  Primitive  Methodist  bookbinder,  John  Parrot  was  perhaps 
for  a  considerable  time  its  best-known  printer.  His  imprint  is  to 
be  found  on  "  The  Primitive  Pulpit "  and  many  other  books  and 
pamphlets  printed  in  the  'Fifties  and  'Sixties.  A  native  of  Hull 
and  connected  with  Mill  Street  Society  he  removed  to  Halifax 
in  1835,  where  he  became  a  local  preacher.  Two  years  after  he 
settled  in  Leeds,  where  he  lived  and  worked  until  his  death  in 
1871.  He  was  a  hard  worker,  and  what  was  less  common  in  those 
days — a  lover  of  fun  and  frolic.  He  filled  and  fulfilled  many  offices, 
but  probably  the  best  and  most  lasting  work  he  did  was  his 
Bible-teaching.  There  are  those  occupying  important  positions  in 
the  Church  to-day  who  will  be  ready  to  express  their  obligations 
to  the  genial  printer. 

In  1820  Leeds  was  made  a  branch  of  Hull  Circuit,  and  it  is  an  interesting  coincidence 
that  Samuel  Laister,  the  first  Primitive  preacher  the  deputation  heard  on  their  visit  to 
Ferrybridge,  was  one  of  the  first  preachers  of  the  Leeds  Branch.  Samuel  Laister  was 


JOHN   PARROTT. 


72  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

a  native  of  historic  Epworth,  and  was  of  Methodist  parentage.  In  the 
Magazine  for  1784  there  is  given  a  remarkable  dream  of  the  Last  Judgment  dreamed 
by  the  father  of  Samuel,  to  which  his  conversion  and  that  of  his  four  brothers  was 
directly  attributable.  He  removed  to  Market  Weighton  and  became  a  Primitive 
Methodist  local  preacher,  and  in  September,  1820,  went  out  to  travel.  We  shall  soon 
meet  with  him  again  at  Malton,  and  especially  at  Darlington,  where  he  finished  his 
course.  From  a  branch  Leeds  became  a  circuit  in  1822,  having  no  fewer  than  ten  preachers 
down  for  it  on  the  stations,  of  whom  John  Coulson  is  the  first.  The  same  year  Quarry 
Hill  chapel  was  built,  which  through  many  changes  still  survives  as  one  of  the  historic 
chapels  of  Primitive  Methodism.  This  year  was  also  notable  for  the  action  taken  by 
the  December  Quarterly  Meeting  in  sending  two  missionaries  to  London,  of  which  we 
shall  have  to  speak  more  fully  in  another  connection.  In  1823  the  fourth  Conference 
was  held  at  Leeds.  Apart  from  the  action  taken  in  regard  to  the  new  hymn  book,* 
perhaps  the  most  noteworthy  transaction  of  this  Conference  related  to  the  establishment 
of  a  Preachers'  Friendly  Society.  It  was  ordered  that  one  preacher  from  each  circuit 
should  attend  a  meeting  at  Hull,  on  August  24th,  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  needful 
arrangements,  but  with  the  fettering  proviso  that  "  the  preachers  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  beg  for  the  establishing  of  the  fund."  We  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  this 
restriction,  felt  to  be  so  galling,  was  removed  the  very  next  year.  Though  the  religious 
services  in  connection  with  the  first  Leeds  Conference  are  said  to  have  been  powerful 
and  fruitful,  and  the  hospitality  of  the  Leeds  friends  exceedingly  hearty,  yet,  we  are 
told  by  W.  Clowes,  there  were  several  matters  of  a  trying  nature  to  occupy  the  attention 
of  the  delegates.  As  a  whole,  considerable  progress  had  been  made  during  the  year, 
but  some  of  the  circuits  had  become  embarrassed,  and  the  Connexion  was  entering 
within  the  penumbra  of  its  temporary  eclipse.  The  Conference  over,  Hugh  Bourne 
thought  it  his  duty  to  write  an  admonitory  letter  to  the  preachers,t  at  the  same  time 
asking  them  to  contribute  towards  the  relief  of  the  embarrassed  circuits.  The  appeal 
met  with  little  response — four  pounds,  which  included  one  pound  given  by  himself, 
being  the  net  result.  This  moved  him  further  to  address  "A  Private  Communication," 
reflecting  strongly  upon  certain  "runners-out  of  circuits,"  and  pointedly  calling 
attention  to  particular  cases  of  irregularity.  The  drastic  character  of  this  "  private  com- 
munication" naturally  created  heart-burnings,  and  ensured  warm  discussions  at  the 
annual  meeting  at  Halifax.  Of  the  second  Leeds  Conference — that  of  1818 — of  which 
Thomas  King  was  the  President,  and  Emerson  Muschamp,  of  Weardale,  the  Secretary, 
little  need  be  said,  as  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  concerned  in  any  weighty  matters. 
Let  some  of  the  administrative  changes  through  which  the  original  Leeds  Circuit  has 
passed  be  briefly  chronicled.  First,  Bradford  (to  be  hereafter  referred  to)  was  made 
a  Circuit  in  1823,  then  Otley  was  taken  from  Leeds,  and  for  two  years  (1824-5)  ranked 
as  an  independent  circuit.  Dewsbury  also  stood  on  the  Conference  Minutes — 
1824-8 — as  a  circuit  in  its  own  right.  Afterwards  both  Otley  and  Dewsbury  reverted 

*  See  ante.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  10. 

t"A  number  of  our  Yorkshire  circuits,  with  one  in  Derbyshire,  and  some  of  the  Lancashire 
circuits,  are  considerably  embarrassed ;  and  some  of  them  are  grievously  embarrassed." — H.  Bourne's 
Letter  to  the  Preachers,  June  6th,  1823. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND   ENTERPRISF. 


73 


74  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

to  Leeds.  Then,  in  1840,  Utley  again  acquired  independence.  In  1849,  when 
that  capable  minister,  Richard  Davies,  was  the  superintendent,  Leeds  was  still 
one  circuit,  though  a  powerful  one  with  1162  members.  It  comprised  the  Home 
Branch  and  the  South  Leeds  and  Dewsbury  Branches.  In  1850 
South  Leeds  became  a  separate  station,  and  three  years  later 
was  called  Leeds  Second.  Dewsbury  remained  a  branch  until  1 85  7,. 
when  it  was  granted  autonomy.  In  1862  the  West  Branch  of 
Leeds  First  became  Leeds  Third  or  Relioboth.  These  dry,  though 
necessary,  details  are  of  some  significance  as  showing  how  modern 
and  even  quite  recent  has  been  the  development  of  Leeds  Primitive 
Methodism  with  its  existing  eight  circuits.  Statistics  not  just  here- 
in place  would  confirm  the  impression  that  the  story  of  this 
development — of  which  on  its  material  side  some  idea  may  be 
gained  from  our  page  illustration  of  Leeds  chapels — belongs  to  the 

MR.    GEORGE   ALLEN.  .  . 

later  period  of  our  history. 

Information  respecting  the  history  of  Primitive  Methodism  during  the  first  period  is- 
regrettably  scanty.  We  are,  therefore,  all  the  more  beholden  to  Mr.  George  Allen  for 
his  published  jottings  on  our  history  in  Leeds.*  Mr.  Allen  became  a  scholar  in  the 
Sunday  school,  then  conducted  in  Shannon  Street,  as  early  as  1823,  and  afterwards  an 
active  and  useful  official  of  the  Leeds  First  Circuit.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  a  few 
facts  relating  to  the  genesis  of  the  Leeds  Second  and  Third  Circuits  which  shall  be 
given  in  his  own  words  : — 

"A  Mr.  William  Armitage,  who  lived  in  Wheeler  Street,  Bank,  Leeds,  about  1833, 
removed  to  Park  Lane,  and  carried  his  religious  influence  with  him.  A  prayer 
meeting  was  held  at  Mrs.  Blakey's,  Hanover  Square,  afterwards.  On  Sunday 
nights  a  preaching  service  was  held  at  Mr.  Tyas',  in  Chatham  Street,  and  in  a  short 
time  a.  class  meeting  was  held  on  Monday  afternoons  at  Mr.  Tyas'.  Thus  the  work 
spread  until  they  took  a  room  in  Park  Lane,  which  had  been  a  joiner's  shop.  Then 
Rehoboth  chapel  and  the  houses  connected  with  it  were  built  (1839),  the  Lord  being 
their  helper.  But  before  this,  preaching  services  had  been  commenced  in  a  yard  in 
Meadow  Lane.  After  that  they  built  a  chapel  in  a  yard  because,  I  suppose,  they 
could  get  the  land  there  at  a  cheap  rate.  ,  .  .  The  chapel  at  Holbeck  was  parted 
with  in  about  1836  and  Prince's  Field  Chapel  built,  which  is  now  in  Leeds  Second 
Circuit ;  Park  Lane  (Rehoboth)  being  in  the  Third." 

The  facts  here  given  may  usefully  serve  as  points  de  repere,  but  we  want  something 
more.  Fortunately  we  get  some  side-lights  illuminating  the  facts  here  barely  given 
from  the  lives  of  Thomas  Batty  and  Atkinson  Smith,  who  were  the  ministers  of  Leeds 
Circuit  from  1831  to  1833.  In  these  two  years  they  made  full  proof  of  their  ministry, 
with  the  result  that  there  was  an  increase  of  three  hundred  to  the  membership  of  the 
Church.  We  have  already  indicated  what  were  the  outstanding  features  of  Atkinson 
Smith's  character  and  ministry.  These  were  never  more  conspicuously  in  evidence 
than  during  his  two  years'  term  in  Leeds.  His  biographer,  who  travelled  in  the  Leeds 
Circuit  in  1842  and  took  his  bride,  Sarah  Bickerstaffe,  to  the  preacher's  house  at 

*  "A  History  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Leeds  (1819-1888),"  by  George  Allen. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  75 

Quarry  Hill,  adduces  the  testimony  of  a  Leeds  class-leader  to  the  influence  of  Atkinson 
Smith's  prayers  and  labours.  When  we  know  that  the  class-leader  in  question  was 
John  Reynard,  and  that  it  was  in  his  house  the  young  preacher  resided,  the  testimony 
is  weighty  indeed. 

" '  Leeds  Circuit,'  says  Mr.  Reynard,  '  owes  its  rise  in  a  great  measure  to  the 
prayers  of  Atkinson  Smith.'  And  then,  pointing  to  his  chamber  floor,  he  observed  : 
'  I  have  known  him  be  on  these  boards  for  four  hours  together,  agonising  in  prayer.' 
I  [C.  Kendall]  found  many  who  owned  him  as  their  father  in  Christ.  .  .  Among 
many  others  to  whom  his  labours  were  made  a  blessing  was  Mr.  Thomas  Ratcliffe, 
who  became  a  well-known  minister  of  our  Church." 

In  1832  Leeds  suffered  severely  from  the  visitation  of  the  cholera.  As  in 
Manchester,  so  here,  during  the  ravages  of  this  fell  disease,  special  attention  was  given 
to  open-air  services.  "  The  preachers  were  set  at  liberty  from  their  week-night  appoint- 
ments that  they  might  concentrate  their  efforts  on  the  living  masses  of  the  town." 
Atkinson  Smith  did  not  shrink  from  visiting  the  cholera  hospital  to  "  rescue  the 
perishing  and  care  for  the  dying." 

Here  is  an  extract  from  A.  Smith's  Journal  relating  to  Bramley,  now  Leeds  Fifth 
Circuit,  with  which  we  close,  for  the  present,  our  notice  of  Leeds. 

"  September  13th,  1831. — I  went  to  Bramley,  a  place  containing  five  or  six  thousand 
inhabitants.  We  have  only  ten  members,  and  seldom  more  than  twenty  hearers. 
I  resolved  to  re-mission  the  place ;  Wm.  Pickard  joined  me.  We  took  a  lantern, 
went  to  the  bottom  of  the  village,  and  began  to  sing  'We  are  bound  for  the 
Kingdom,'  etc.  Three  hundred  people  accompanied  us  to  the  chapel.  I  preached 
to  them,  but  nut  with  my  usual  liberty  ;  yet  the  revival  began  that  night,  and  in 
a  short  time  forty  or  fifty  persons  found  the  Lord.'  'To  this  day,'  adds  the 
biographer,  writing  in  1854,  'the  people  of  Bramley  speak  of  Smith's  seeking  a 
revival  with  a  lantern  and  candle.' ;> 


76  PRIMITIVE    MKTHODIST   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER    XV. 
THE  YORKSHIRE  MISSIONS  AND  MALTON  AND  RIPON  CIRCUITS. 

[HEN  I  look  at  the  work  in  Yorkshire,  it  is  amazing  !  Many  chapels  are 
built,  and  the  land  generally  spread  with  living  Churches,  and  hundreds  of 
souls  brought  to  God."  So  Clowes  wrote  in  March,  1821,  and  the  purpose 
of  this  chapter  is,  if  possible,  to  convey  the  impression  that  the  wonder 
expressed  by  Clowes  concerning  "  the  work  in  Yorkshire  "  was  natural  and  justified  by 
current  events  and  by  what  resulted  from  them  •.  in  other  words,  it  is  to  be  attempted  to 
show  that  the  wide  and  rapid  extension  of  Primitive  Methodism  through  the  agency 
of  Clowes  and  his  fellow-workers  of  the  Hull  Circuit  in  1820-1  is,  so  far  as  this  side 
of  our  island  is  concerned,  the  outstanding  fact  to  be  noted  and  made  to  yield  its 
impression. 

Rigid  adherence  to  the  chronological  order  of  circuit  formation  would,  for  once,  fail  to 
do  justice  to  the  facts  of  our  history  and  gain  from  them  the  right  impression.  York, 
Leeds,  Malton,  Ripon  were  the  only  circuits  in  this  part  of  Yorkshire  made  in  1822  ; 
yet,  by  that  time,  all  the  country  lying  between  these  towns  was  overrun  and  as  it  were 
pre-empted  for  the  Connexion.  Tadcaster,  Driffield,  Scarborough,  Bridlington,  might 
not  permanently  become  Circuits  till  long  after,  probably  because  they  were  comparatively 
close  to  Hull  and  under  its  fostering  care  and  guardianship  ;  none  the  less,  these  and 
other  Yorkshire  towns,  with  the  villages  they  served,  were  once  for  all  won  for  the 
Connexion  by  the  movement  of  1821-2.  Primitive  Methodism  paid  no  transient  visit, 
but  entered  to  stay.  It  was  only  when  Yorkshire  had  been  thus  traversed  and  practi- 
cally secured,  that  the  North  was  almost  simultaneously  reached  by  two  distinct  lines  of 
advance — the  one  via  Brompton  and  Guisboro',  the  other  via  Ripon  and  Darlington. 
We  propose  then  in  this  chapter  to  show  how  this  base  was  secured,  and  in  doing  so, 
the  most  natural  course  will  be  to  begin  with  Tadcaster — whose  borders  marched  with 
those  of  Leeds  on  one  side  and  with  those  of  York  and  Brotherton  on  the  other — and 
then  to  follow  the  geographical  spread  of  the  movement  which  swept  Yorkshire  in  what 
Clowes,  who  was  in  the  midst  of  it,  thought  an  amazing  manner.  This  method  is  all 
the  more  necessary  as,  even  after  June,  1820,  when  branches  were  formed,  their 
boundaries  were  often  crossed.  What  with  frequent  interchanges  and  sallies  and 
excursions  it  is  difficult  to  locate  the  preachers.  They  are  now  here,  now  there,  pur- 
suing the  work  of  evangelisation.  Practically  the  East  and  North  Ridings  were  during 
this  period  one  big  Circuit. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


77 


TADCASTEB. 

We  begin  then  with  the  ancient  and  interesting  town  of  Tadcaster,  lying  on  the  direct 
road  between  Leeds  and  York,  from  which  towns  it  is  fourteen  and  nineteen  miles  distant 
respectively.  It  is  also  on  the  Great  North  Road  and,  with  its  ancient  bridge  crossing 
the  Wharfe,  it  was  as  the  postern-gate  to  the  city  of  York.  Its  position  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  the  two  most  decisive  and  bloody  battles  recorded  in  English  history — Towton 
and  Marston  Moor,  were  fought  within  a  few  miles  of  the  town,  while,  in  1642,  Sir 
Thomas  Fairfax  and  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  contended  in  the  slreets  of  Tadcaster  itself 
for  the  possession  of  the  all-important  bridge. 

Primitive  Methodism  was  introduced  into  Tadcaster  as  early  as  June  1820  by 
Nathaniel  West  who,  like 
John  Flesher,  began  his 
ministry  here.  So  success- 
ful was  N.  West's  Tadcaster 
mission  that,  by  September, 
he  could  report  that  one 
hundred  and  thirty -nine 
members  had  been  enrolled 
in  the  town  and  neighbour- 
ing villages  which 


Clowes  held  Open-air  Services 
here  in  1825. 


TADCA.STER— AI'PLKliARTH. 


assiduously  visited.  His 
three  months'  labour  re- 
sulted also  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  chapel,  by 
which  we  are  probably 
to  understand  the  renting 
and  fitting  up  of  the  room 
in  Wighill  Lane,  shoAvn 
in  our  picture.  Tradition 
says  that  this  had  formerly  been  used  by  a  sweep,  and  that  at  this  early  stage  of 
the  society's  progress  three  soldiers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  serve  as  escort  to  the  post 
from  York  to  Wetherby,  rendered  good  service.  Before  leaving  Tadcaster  for  the 
Malton  Branch,  N.  AVest  took  part  in  the  opening  services  along  with  J.  Farrar 
and  Mrs.  EL  Woolhouse,  of  Hull,  and  her  travelling-preacher  son.  After  being 
in  use  for  two  years,  the  first  chapel  was  built  in  Rosemary  Row.  This  building,  we 
are  told,  ultimately  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholics  who,  in  order  to- 


Scene  of  First  Camp  Meeting,  and  where  Camp  Meetings 

were  held  for  fifty  years,  in  field  behind  trees  on  the  left  of  picture,  and 

right  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Wharfe. 


78 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


erase  the  words  "Primitive  Methodist  Chapel,"  had  a  cross  cut  in  the  stone-work 
between  the  windows.  If  the  old  chapel  was  thus  perverted,  the  "  Applegarth," 
the  old  cam])  meeting  site,  picturesquely  situated  by  the  river  Wharfe,  where  for 
fifty  years  camp  meetings  were  wont  to  be  held,  was  interdicted  to  the  society.  Here, 
in  1825  W.  Clowes  took  part  in  a  famous  camp  meeting.  But  Tadcaster  is  a  brewery 
town,  and,  on  the  field  being  let  to  a  brewer,  its  owner  stipulated  that  no  more  camp 
meetings  should  be  held  therein.  The  present  chapel,  it  may  be  mentioned,  was  built 
in  1865,  at  a  total  cost,  with  schoolroom,  of  £1008. 

We  cannot  linger  on  Tadcaster.  It  is  now  a  small  and,  numerically,  feeble  station; 
but  its  history  shows  that,  relatively,  it  was  formerly  of  much  greater  importance  than 
it  is  to-day.  The  town  has 
held,  and  more  than  held, 
its  own.  Some  places  have 
been  given  to  Selby  Circuit ; 
but  there  has  been  shrinkage 
in  relation  to  the  village 
interests,  which  old  journals 
and  documents  show  were 


TADCASTER   FIRST   CHAPEL. 
End  building,  Rosemary  Kow. 


TADCASTER  FIRST  MISSION  ROOM 
WIGHILL  LANE. 

once  numerous  and  compara- 
tively vigorous.  The  towns 
and  large  urban  centres  had 
not  begun,  like  the  fabled  Min- 
otaur, to  deplete  and  devour 
the  village  populations.  It 
may  be  worth  while  to  indi- 
cate in  a  separate  paragraph  (which  the  reader  can  skip  if  he  choose)  the  vicissitudes 
through  which  the  Tadcaster  Circuit  has  passed.  The  record  may  be  regarded  as 
typical  of  many  that  might  be  given,  and  as  not  being  without  historical  value  as 
suggesting  the  difficulties  which  the  retention  of  our  village  circuits  has  involved. 

The  Tadcaster  mission  of  Hull  Circuit,  opened  by  Nathaniel  West,  June,  1820, 
became  a  branch  of  Hull  Circuit  in  September  of  the  same  year,  and  so  continued 
until  the  close  of  1824,  when  it  was  attached  to  York  Circuit.  In  1826  it  was 
constituted  part  of  the  "Tadcaster  and  Ferrybridge  Circuit."  It  stood  on  the 
Minutes  as  an  independent  station  from  1827  to  1837,  in  which  latter  year  it  had 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    A.ND    ENTERPRISE.  79 

214  members.  Henceforward,  until  1850,  it  was  once  more  a  branch  of  Hull.  It 
assumed  circuit  rank  again  in  1851-2.  From  1853  to  1863,  inclusive,  it  was  a  branch 
of  Scarborough.  Lastly,  in  1864  it  was  again  made  a  circuit,  and  as  such  has 
continued. 

During  its  long  and  somewhat  chequered  history,  Tadcaster  has  had  a  succession  of 
staunch  adherents  who  have  stood  by  the  cause  in  sunshine  and  shade.  "We  find  the 
name  of  John  Swinden  figuring  in  documents  of  the  early  'Thirties.  He  and  his 
wife  Elizabeth  were  converts  of  W.  Clowes  in  1825,  and  ever  since  1835  there  have 
been  two  of  this  name  on  the  plan.  The  Rev.  John  Swinden,  a  scion  of  this  family,  is 
one  of  the  goodly  .number  Tadcaster  Circuit  has  sent  into  the  ranks  of  the  regular 
ministry.  Of  these  the  Rev.  Wilson  Eccles  is  another  modern  representative.  Three 
of  the  aforesaid  Elizabeth  Swinden's  brothers — Atkinson  by  name — became  useful  local 
preachers,  while  a  fourth  was  class-leader.  Thus  we  see  again  the  hereditary  principle 
at  work. 

RIPON. 

When  Ripon  is  mentioned,  we  are  not  to  think  merely  of  the  pretty  though  somewhat 
sleepy  city  on  the  Ure,  with  its  ancient  Cathedral  of  St.  Wilfrid,  together  with  its 
adjacent  villages,  which  represents  the  Ripon  Circuit  of  to-day.  Rather  are  we  to 
figure  to  ourselves  a  tract  of  country  stretching  from  the  borders  of  Leeds  and  Tadcaster 
Circuits  to  Middleham,  and  from  the  valley  of  the  IS'idd  to  Thirsk,  comprising  what 
-are  now  the  Harrogate,  Knaresboro',  Pateley  Bridge,  Thirsk,  Ripon,  Bedale,  and 
Middleham  Circuits.  They  took  seizin  of  this  country  for  the  Connexion,  though 
as  yet  all  of  it  might  not  be  effectively  occupied.  The  Ripon  Circuit,  formed  in  1822, 
ultimately  grew  to  be  with  its  branches  one  of  the  most  extensive  Circuits  in  the 
Connexion,  and,  after  1824,  when  it  was  incorporated  with  the  newly  formed  Sunder- 
land  District,  it  was  travelled  by  some  of  the  best  known  and  most  capable  ministers  of 
that  District. 

W.  Clowes  opened  Knaresbro'  as  early  as  October  24th,  1819,  by  preaching  "abroad" 
amid  wind  and  rain  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  in  a  dwelling-house  in  the 
-evening.  On  the  Tuesday  following,  he  preached  in  a  different  part  of  the  town  and 
formed  a  society  of  four  members.  Two  other  visits  to  Knaresbro'  were  paid  before 
the  year  closed,  and  kindly  mention  is  made  of  an  old  Scotchwoman,  Mary  Brownridge, 
who  bade  him  welcome  to  what  her  house  afforded.  At  already  fashionable  Harrogate 
"  the  uncircumcised  fastened  the  door  of  the  house  he  was  in  "  to  prevent  his  egress ; 
but  he  got  out  at  the  back  of  the  premises.  At  Killinghall,  hard  by,  he  preached  in  a 
joiner's  shop  and  in  the  Wesleyan  Chapel,  and  while  at  family  prayers  next  morning  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Swales,  two  of  his  servant-men  cried  out  for  mercy.  It  was  while 
tramping  through  the  snow  from  Harrogate  to  Leeds  that  Clowes  had  his  encounter 
with  a  gentleman  riding  a  very  fine  horse,  who  proved  to  be  the  Vicar  of  Harewood. 
The  long  discussion  between  them  led  Clowes  to  indulge  in  sundry  reflections,  one  of 
which  was  that,  notwithstanding  all  his  privations  and  sufferings,  and  the  toil  and 
persecution  he  suffered  as  a  missionary  of  the  cross,  he  would  not  exchange  situations 
with  the  Vicar  of  Harewood,  "for,"  adds  he,  "my  religion  makes  my  soul  happy."  Mr. 
Clowes  also  visited  Whixley,  the  home  of  the  Annakin  family,  and  Burton  Leonard, 


80 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


MK.    THOMAS   DAWSON. 


where  a  good  society  was  formed,  and  especially  Marton-cum-Grafton.  Here  Mr.  Mark 
Xoble,  a  Wesleyan,  incurring  censure  for  countenancing  and  aiding  and  abetting  the- 
missionary,  felt  constrained  to  join  the  society  that  was  formed,  and  henceforth  freely 
extended  hospitality  to  the  preachers.  In  the  revival  which  took  place  at  this  time, 
Mr.  Thomas  Dawson,  by  far  the  ablest  and  most  influential 
official  of  the  Ripon  Circuit  in  the  early  days,  was  brought  to- 
God.  He  entered  the  ministry,  but  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
it  after  eighteen  months'  trial,  his  strength  not  being  equal 
to  the  heavy  demands  of  the  work.  He  located  in  the  Ripon 
Circuit,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  respect  entertained  for  him 
by  his  brethren,  who  well  knew  his  loyalty  and  the  value  of  his 
counsel,  he  was  elected  a  deed  poll  member  at  the  Conference 
of  1856.  The  Rev.  Colin  C.  McKechnie,  who  knew  him  in- 
timately, has  left  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  Mr.  Dawson,  which 
we  have  pleasure  in  quoting. 

"  Mr.  Thomas  Dawson  was,  beyond  question,  the  most 
gifted  of  all  our  laymen.  He  was  well-informed,  had 
a  keen  perception,  and  a  logical  mind.  Nothing  pleased  him  more  than  taking  part 
in  a  debate  ;  and  if  he  had  anything  like  a  good  case  in  hand,  he  was  almost  sure 
to  win.  Indeed,  if  the  case  were  bad,  the  chances  were  in  his  favour,  for  he  had  the 
faculty  of  making  the  '  worse  appear  the  better  reason.'  He  delighted  in  the 
society  of  the  preachers,  and  in  meeting  them  at  his  house.  Afflicted  with 
asthma,  he  was  at  times  compelled  to  sit  up  at  nights,  as  he  could  not  lie.  At  such 
times  if  a  preacher  happened  to  be  with  him,  he  would  spend  hours  in  discussion, 
the  subjects  often  being  of  an  abstruse  and  metaphysical  nature.  One  night 
I  spent  with  him  was  devoted  almost  entirely  to  the  discussion  of 

'  Fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute.' 

And  he  seemed  to  forget  all  his  ailments  in  the  polemical  ardour  with  which  he 
repelled  the  Calvinistic  views  taken  of  those  high  subjects.  Mr.  Dawson  was  a 
thoroughly  good  man,  upright,  devoted,  zealous  in  Christian  work,  and  an  out-and- 
out  Primitive."  * 

Mr.  Clowes  entered  the  city  of  Ripon  for  the  first  time  on  March  4th,  1820.  A  local 
preacher  being  planned  at  the  Wesleyan  chapel  on  this  Sabbath  whose  face  Avas  almost 
unknown  to  the  congregation,  Clowes  was  privately  pressed  to  take  his  place,  and  at 
last  consented.  The  service  was  a  powerful  one,  and  either  the  preacher's  matter  or 
manner  betrayed  him,  for,  when  the  congregation  were  dispersing,  one  said,  aloud :  "  If 
theee  be  '  Ranters,'  then  I  am  a  '  Ranter.' "  The  evening  service,  we  are  told,  was  held 
in  the  house  of  Mr.  B.  Spetch,  in  Bondgate,  and  in  the  prayer  meeting  which  followed,. 
William  Rumfitt  and  Moses  Lupton,  afterwards  General  Missionary  Secretary,  and 
President,  were  two  out  of  fourteen  who  professed  to  find  the  Saviour.  A  strong  society 
was  almost  immediately  formed,  which  received  numerous  accessions  from  the  somewhat 
frequent  visits  to  Ripon  paid  by  Clowes  during  the  year,  as  noted  in  his  published 
Journal.  As  early  as  June,  1820,  Ripon  was  made  a  branch,  and  in  September  three 
preachers  were  stationed  to  it,  viz.,  James  Farrar,  Robert  Ripley,  and  John  Garbutt, 

*Rev.  C.  C.  McKechnie's  MS.  "Autobiography,"  in  the  possession  of  the  author. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  81 

A  month  after  we  find  W.  Clowes  taking  part  in  the  opening  of  a  new  chapel  at 
Martin-cum-Grafton,  and  once  more  we  meet  with  Mrs.  Woolhouse  assisting  in  the 
services. 

Amongst  those  who  travelled  the  extensive  Ripon  Circuit  in  the  first  period  were 

several  with  whose  names  and  work  we  shall  become 
familiar  in  writing  of  the  Northern  District;  men  like 
John  Lightfoot,  John  Branfoot,  William  Lister,  W.  Dent, 
John  Day,  Thomas  Southron.  Nor  should  we  omit 
mention  of  Mary  Porteus,  who  was  on  the  circuit's  staff  of 
preachers  from  1828  to  1830.  On  the  intellectual  side 
she  must  be  regarded  as  taking  a  high  place  amongst 
our  female  itinerants.  She  did  not  come  behind  any  of 
them  in  piety  and  zeal,  and  she  excelled  most  of  them 
in  preaching  power.  The  Rev.  W.  Dent — a  competent 
judge — has  said  of  her,  "  that  it  was  really  a  privilege  to 
hear  her  preach,  for  she  had  both  the  requisite  gifts  and 
grace."  Mary  Porteus  was  a  native  of  Gateshead  and 
entered  the  ministry  in  1826,  taking  circuit  work  until 
1840,  when  enfeebled  health  compelled  her  retirement. 
For  one  of  her  sex  and  constitution  Ripon  was  an 

exacting  station.  Some  idea  of  the  physical  toil  involved  in  the  working  of  such 
a  Circuit  may  be  gathered  from  the  statement  of  the  Rev.  W.  Lister  that,  during 
the  three  years  of  his  superin tendency  of  the  Ripon  Circuit,  1835-8,  he  had  walked 
2,400  miles. 

In  speaking  of  the  early  history  of  the  Ripon  Circuit  it 
would  be  almost  unpardonable  to  make  no  reference  to 
Joseph  Spoor,  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  shaping  of 
that  history.  In  a  very  real  sense  he  made  his  mark  on 
the  Circuit,  and  it  was  equally  true  that  the  Ripon  Circuit 
left  its  mark  on  him,  for  it  was  while  labouring,  as  he  only 
could,  in  the  Middleham  Mission  of  this  station — forty- 
seven  miles  in  length  and  twenty  in  breadth — that  he 
broke  down  in  health,  and  had  to  superannuate  for  a  time. 
Yet  he  was  no  weakling.  Indeed,  when  Thomas  Dawson 
secured  him  at  the  District  Meeting  of  1835  for  the  Ripon 
Circuit,  well  knowing  he  "  could  toil  terribly,"  he  was  in 
the  full  vigour  of  his  powers.  He  had  a  compact,  sinewy, 
agile  frame.  He  was  courageous  as  a  lion,  and  yet  he 
could  show  on  occasion  of  an  emergency  much  tact  and 
resourcefulness.  He  made  no  pretension  to  learning  or  ITEUS. 

eloquence.  He  spoke  out  in  plain  Saxon,  and  the  themes  on  which  he  discoursed 
presented  little  variety;  but  his  own  soul  kindled  as  he  spoke,  and  the  old  themes 
were  all  aglow  like  Moses'  bush  that  burned  unconsumed  in  fire.  Added  to  all  this, 
there  was  at  times  a  dash  of  eccentricity  about  his  movements  both  in  and  out  of  the 

P 


82 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


pulpit  which  attracted  the  attention  of  men  and  made  him  popular.  Many  of  the 
well-known  incidents  associated  with  his  name  occurred  during  his  term  of  labour  in 
Ripon  and  its  various  branches,  which  term  was  remarkable  for  a  great  revival  of 
religion — one  that  was  not  restricted  to  a  few  places  but  spread  over  nearly  the  whole 
Circuit.  New  societies  were  raised  in  several  places,  and  others  that  had  seriously 
declined  were  revived.  It  was  just  after  this  revival  that  the  Circuit  was  formed 

into  branches. 

In  1837,  Mr.  Spoor  was  appointed  to  labour  on  the 
Thirsk  and  Bedale  Mission.  At  the  village  of  Langthorne 
the  outlook  was  at  first  exceedingly  unpromising.  But 
he  was  told  there  was  hope  for  the  place  if  only  John 
Hobson,  the  tallest  man  in  the  village,  could  be  won 
for  Christ.  Thereupon  Mr.  Spoor  and  his  colleague. 
W.  Fulton,  covenanted  to  pray  at  a  given  hour  each  day 
for  the  conversion  of  this  village  champion  and  son  of 
Anak.  Shortly  after  this,  John  Hobson  was  drawn  by 
some  irresistible  influence  to  a  service  conducted  by 
Mr.  Spoor.  Unmistakably  enough  it  was  he;  for,  like 
Saul,  he  towered  head  and  shoulders  above  the  rest. 
John  Hobson  was  converted  and  became  the  leader  and 
staunch  supporter  of  the  village  society. 

In  December,  1837,  Mr.  Spoor  was  appointed  to  open 
a  Mission  at  Boroughbridge.  It  was  while  preaching 
on  a  village-green  near  this  old  town  that  he  had  his  encounter  with  the  Anglican 
priest  who  in  his  wrath  threatened  to  stop  him.  To  this  Mr.  Spoor  replied  :  "  There 
are  several  ways  of  stopping  you,  but  there's  only  one  way  of  stopping  me.  Take 
away  your  gown,  and  you  dare  not  preach ;  take  a\vay  your  book,  and  you  cannot 
preach ;  and  take  away  your  rich  income,  and  you  won't  preach ;  while  the  only 
way  to  stop  me  is  by  cutting  out  my  tongue."  Of  course  the  retort  was  not  original ; 
but  it  leaped  forth  on  occasion  like  a  trenchant  impromptu  and  shows  the  readiness  of 
the  man. 

Mr.  Spoor  and  Fulton  were  dragged  before  the  magistrates  by  an  officious  policeman  for 
a  service  which  they  held  in  Ripon  Market-place.  It  seemed  that  despite  all  they  might 
say  they  were  to  be  sent  to  prison.  Spoor  rejoiced  at  the  opportunity  of  suffering  for 
the  sake  of  the  Gospel  and  shouted :  "  Glory  be  to  God  !  the  '  kittie '  for  Christ ! "  but 
a  prominent  citizen  came  into  Court,  expostulated  with  the  magistrates  and  put  a  new 
face  on  the  matter.  It  is  said  that  a  long  and  able  letter  appeared  in  the  newspaper 
insisting  upon  the  right  to  conduct  worship  in  the  open  air,  and  reflecting  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  policeman  and  the  magistrates,  and  that  the  letter  was  from  the  pen  of 
Dr.  Longley,  then  Bishop  of  Ripon,  and  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

But,  to  our  thinking,  an  incident  narrated  by  Rev.  C.  C.  McKechnie  shows  Mr. 
Spoor  in  a  still  more  attractive  light.  Mr.  McKechnie  had  as  a  lad  of  seventeen  just 
arrived  from  his  distant  home  in  Paisley  to  begin  his  labours  in  the  Ripon  Circuit. 
Rather  cruelly,  his  superintendent  had  made  him  preach  in  the  city  on  the  very  evening 


JOSEPH   SPOOR. 


THE   PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


83 


of  his  arrival,  and  the  service  had  been  to  him  a  trying  one.  The  next  day  as  he  sat 
in  his  lodgings  he  was  much  cast  down.  The  rest  of  the  story  shall  be  told  in  Mr. 
McKechnie's  own  words : 

' '  Something  like  despair  settled  upon  me,  and  it  seemed  to  grow  thicker  and 
faster.  In  the  early  afternoon,  as  I  sat  in  my  room  brooding  over  the  past,  present 
and  future,  I  wrote  all  sorts  of  bitter  things  against  myself  for  having  ventured 
upon  such  an  enterprise,  so  unfurnished  for  my  work,  and  so  ignorant  of  what  I 
was  doing.  Whilst  thus  depressed  and  desponding  the  tears  coursing  down  my 
cheeks,  my  room-door  opened,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Spoor  walked  in.  And  here  let  me 
say  with  thankfulness,  his  coming  was  like  the  visit  of  an  angel  of  God.  His 
presence  brought  a  blessing  with  it.  A  more  peaceful,  spiritual,  brotherly  face 


MARKET-PLACE,    KIPON. 

I  had  never  looked  upon,  and  the  tones  of  his  voice  had  a  healing  and  reviving 
influence  upon  my  poor  bruised  heart.  He  seemed  to  comprehend  my  case  in  a 
moment.  I  cannot  express  the  fulness  and  sweetness  of  his  sympathy,  or  the 
gentle  but  effectual  way  in  which  he  swept  away  my  brooding  fears.  '  Oh, 
dear,  no  !  I  had  no  reason  to  be  despondent ;  that  was  the  work  of  the  enemy. 
I  might  be  sure  my  way  would  brighten.  Get  on  ?  Oh,  yes  !  I  would  get  on  beyond 
doubt.  I  must  look  up  and  trust  and  pray  and  work,  and  all  would  turn  out  well. 
I  would  meet  with  many  kind-hearted  people  who  would  help  and  cheer  me  in 
every  way.'  With  such  words  as  these,  backed  by  a  few  mighty  words  of  prayer, 
Mr.  Spoor  exorcised  the  evil  spirit,  and  left  me  a  new  man.  Yes  ;  I  may  truly  say 
I  was  made  a  new  man ;  a  new  life  inspired  me.  I  now  felt  ashamed  of  my 

F2 


84  PKIMITIVK    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

cowardly  fears.  No ;  I  would  not  succumb  to  the  difficulties  of  my  lot.  I  had 
come  out  into  this  field  of  labour  in  response  to  what  I  believed  to  be  a  divine  call, 
and  I  would,  by  the  help  of  God,  prove  myself  worthy  of  it."— (MS,  Autobiography.) 

MALTON  AND  PICKERING. 

We  give,  below,  the  ministerial  fixtures  for  September-December,  1820,  made  by  the 
Hull  Circuit  authorities : — 

"Hull. — William  Clowes,  John  Hewson,  Edward  Vause,  and  John  Armitage. 

Brotherton. — John  Woolhouse  and  John  Branfoot. 

Pocklington. — John  Verity,  John  Harvey,  and  William  Evans. 

Ripon. — James  Farrar,  Robert  Ripley,  and  John  Garbutt. 

Tadcaster.— Thomas  Johnson,  John  Abey,  and  Samuel  Smith. 

Leeds. — Samuel  Laister  and  Thomas  Nelson. 

Malton. — Nathaniel  West  and  John  Lawton. 

Drijfield.— Robert  Howcroft. 

Bridlington. — John  Coulson." 

Rightly  regarded,  this  prosaic-looking  record  is  full  of  significance.  It  illustrates  yet 
again  W.  Clowes'  judgment  as  to  the  "amazing  work"  carried  on  by  Hull  in  1820-2. 
It  is  only  one  year  and  nine  months  since  Primitive  Methodism  was  introduced  into 
Hull,  and  yet  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  broad-acred  county  has  been  divided  up 
and  allotted  to  the  preachers  of  the  Hull  Circuit.  Still,  this  record  is  manifestly 
incomplete,  for  it  leaves  out  York,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  a  chapel  was  opened  in 
July,  1820,  and  several  preachers  whose  names  stand  on  the  Minutes  of  the  first 
Conference  have  no  mention  in  this  table.  Another  thing  we  may  learn  from  this 
record :  It  shows  that  the  towns  and  slices  of  country  we  are  writing  of  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  isolated  and  independent,  but  as  parts  of  one  whole  to  be  operated  upon  by 
a  simultaneous  movement  directed  from  Hull. 

At  this  early  period  the  preachers  were  usually  changed  every  three  months,  and 
sometimes  even  oftener  than  that.  They  were  transferred  from  one  branch  of  the 
circuit  to  another  like  Salvation  Army  captains  by  the  head-quarters  staff.  They  are 
all  Hull  Circuit  preachers,  but  are  shifted  from  branch  to  branch  like  pawns  on  a  chess- 
board. Was  the  shortness  of  the  term  of  service  conducive  to  concentration  and  intensity 
of  labour?  Perhaps  so.  With  three  months  only  available  to  justify  his  appointment 
or  otherwise,  the  days  were  precious  and  not  to  be  let  pass  without  crowding  them  with 
work.  Hull  Circuit  had  a  long  arm,  and  held  its  preachers  with  a  tight  hand.  At 
each  quarter  day  inquisition  was  made  of  a  minute  and  searching  kind,  embracing  not 
only  inquiries  as  to  the  preacher's  success  as  a  soul-winner,  but  extending  even  to  the 
cut  of  his  hair  and  coat,  and  the  correctness  of  his  deportment.  As  late  as  1832, 
a  preacher,  whom  it  may  suffice  to  name  J.  P.,  was  suspended,  "for  being  late  at 
Easterington  Chapel,  lying  late  in  the  morning,  speaking  crossly  at  Preston  to  some 
children  when  taking  breakfast,  and,  finally,  for  eating  the  inside  of  some  pie  and 
leaving  the  crust !  "  The  charges  were  on  the  face  of  them  petty  enough,  but  probably 
there  lay,  behind,  the  conviction  that  the  brother  was  unadapted  and  unadaptable  to 
the  work  he  had  undertaken. 

The  record  given  above  may  also  serve  as  a  recapitulation  and  forecast.     Hull  home- 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    A.ND    ENTERPRISE  85 

branch,  together  with  Pocklington,  Brotherton,  Hutton  Rudby,  York,  Leeds,  and 
Tadcaster,  have  been  referred  to.  Now,  by  1820,  we  see  that  a  beginning  has  been 
made  with  Driffield  and  the  Wold-towns.  "  Bridlington  "  means  that  the  sea-coast  of 
the  East  and  North  Ridings,  over  and  above  Holderness,  has  to  be  missioned ;  while 
"Malton"  means  that  the  country  lying  north  of  Pocklington  and  the  Wolds  and 
between  the  Hambledon  Hills  and  the  sea-coast,  and  stretching  northwards  to  the 
Cleveland  Hills,  has  to  be  attempted.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  Hutton  Rudby  is 
already  an  independent  circuit,  and,  by  1822,  will  have  reached  Guisborough.  So, 
although  the  discovery  of  the  rich  beds  of  hematite  are  still  in  the  future,  and  no  one 
as  yet  dreams  of  the  busy  iron-towns  which  one  day  will  stand  on  the  flats  by  the 
estuary  of  the  Tees,  still  in  that  direction  the  country,  such  as  it  was,  had  by  1822 
been  penetrated  by  our  missionaries. 

Speaking  generally,  the  work  of  Hull  Circuit  at  this  time  was  carried  on  and  its 
successes  gained  in  a  country  possessing  few  towns  of  any  magnitude.  Of  necessity,  it 
was  mainly  village  evangelisation  that  was  carried  on,  and  the  Journals  of  the 
missionaries  show  that  in  the  East  and  North  Ridings  scores  of  villages  were  entered, 
converts  won,  and  causes  established  in  the  short  space  of  two  or  three  years.  Once 
more  we  may  question  whether  we  have  not  lost  ground,  and  have  not  to-day  fewer 
village  interests  than  we  had  in  the  pioneer  days. 

All  important  is  it  for  us  to  know  what  was  the  religious  condition  of  this  district  at 
the  time  of  its  first  missioning,  and  what  ameliorative  influences  were  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  people  by  the  new  evangel.  Even  yet  there  are  parts  of  the  North  Riding 
which  are  wild  and  thinly  populated,  as  any  one  who  has  walked  from  Pickering  to 
Whitbv  will  know.  Eighty  years  ago  the  inhabitants  of  these  moors  and  dales  were 
indeed  a  people  remote  and  secluded.  Our  missionaries  penetrated  into  scattered 
villages  that  were  sadly  neglected.  We  are  not  without  reliable  evidence  on  this  head. 
The  late  Canon  Atkinson*  tells  us  that,  when  he  became  parish  clergyman  of  Danby  in 
1846,  the  days  were  but  lately  passed  when  one  clergyman  had  charge  of  three,  and  in 
one  case  he  knew,  of  four  parishes,  making  one  service  a  Sunday  and  a  modicum  of 
visitation  on  week-days  a  thing  to  be  desired  rather  than  actually  enjoyed.  Yet,  though 
what  would  be  called  pluralists,  these  clergymen  were  but  poorly  paid,  their  pittance 
barely  reaching  the  proverbial  forty  pounds  a  year.  Mr.  Carter,  the  Vicar  of  Lastingham, 
got  only  £20  a  year  and  a  few  surplice  fees.  True :  he  was  an  expert  angler,  and 
caught  sufficient  fish  with  his  line  and  hook  to  serve  his  family,  and  to  effect  a  change 
in  kind  with  his  neighbours.  Still,  he  felt  the  pinch  of  poverty  and,  to  add  to  his 
income,  he  hit  upon  the  expedient  of  having  refreshments  served  up  between  the 
services  in  the  Saxon  crypt.  At  the  archidiaconal  visitation  he  told  his  ecclesiastical 
superior  that  "  he  took  down  his  fiddle  to  play  a  few  tunes,  and  then  he  could  see  that 
no  one  got  more  drink  than  was  good  for  him,  and  if  the  young  people  proposed 
a  dance  he  seldom  answered  in  the  negative."  f  So  the  church,  which  was  the  earliest 
seat  of  Scoto-Irish  Christianity,  was  turned  into  a  public-house !  We  know  we  are 

*  "  Forty  years  in  a  Moorland  Parish." 
t "  Slingsby  and  Slingsby  Castle,"  by  Eev.  A.  St.  Clair  Brooke. 


86  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

describing  a  state  of  things,  as  regards  the  Church,  long  since  gone  by.  But  our  point 
is,  that  the  poverty  and  helplessness  of  the  State-Church  in  those  remote  parts  must 
have  created  a  condition  of  things  needing  a  powerful  remedy.  If  the  official  clergymen 
were  not  merely  overworked  and  underpaid,  incompetent  or  spiritless  but,  as  was  too 
often  the  case,  lax  in  conduct,  still  more  urgent  was  the  need  of  heroic  measures  in  order 
to  reach  the  dull  and  alienated  minds  of  the  people.  It  was  of  a  clergyman  in  Cleveland, 
lying  intoxicated  in  the  ditch,  that  one  said  to  another,  contemptuously:  "Let  him  lig 
[lie] ;  he'll  not  be  wanted  till  Sunday." 

That  Methodism  kept  Christianity  alive  in  these  northern  dales  Canon  Atkinson 
handsomely  concedes.  He  might  probably  hold  that  Methodism  was  only  acting  as  the 
locum  tenens  until  the  Church  should  return  to  take  up  her  assigned  duty.  But  be  this 
as  it  may,  he  admits  the  fact  that,  in  the  parts  he  knows  so  well,  Methodism  and 
Primitive  Methodism  had  conserved  the  gospel.  When,  prior  to  his  institution  into  his 
benefice,  he  saw  what  was  to  be  his  church,  littered,  ill-kept,  with  its  shabby  altar, 
he  says : — 

"  I  could  understand  the  slovenly,  perfunctory  service  once  a  Sunday,  sometimes 
relieved  by  none  at  all,  and  the  consequent  sleepy  state  of  Church-feeling  and 
worship.  I  could  well  understand  how  the  only  religious  life  in  the  district  should 
be  among  and  due  to  the  Wesleyans  and  Primitive  Methodists."* 

Some  of  the  first  travelling-preachers  on  the  Malton  Branch  sent  pretty  full  Journals 
of  their  labours  to  the  Magazine.  From  these  we  take  an  item  or  two  that  may  help 
us  to  understand  how  and  wherefore  the  Word  of  God  spread  so  rapidly  in  these  parts. 
One  of  these  early  workers  and  journalisers  was  William  Evans.  He  was  one  of 
eight  who  were  taken  out  to  travel  by  the  September  Quarterly  Meeting  of  1820, 
and  began  his  labours  in  the  newly-formed  Malton  Branch.  He  was  so  zealous 
a  missionary  that  he  did  not  stint  his  labours  to  the  fulfilling  of  his  planned  appoint- 
ments. Measured  by  the  standard  of  the  plan  he  performed  works  of  supererogation. 
He  records  in  his  Journal : — 

"Saturday,  October  6th,  1820. — Had  no  appointment,  but  being  informed  that 
the  people  at  Hayton  were  desirous  to  hear  us,  I  travelled  fourteen  miles 
and  preached  to  them,  and  the  Word  did  not  fall  to  the  ground  :  three  were 
brought  to  the  Lord,  and  one  drunkard  went  off  with  the  solemn  inquiry,  '  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? ' " 

With  a  spirit  like  this,  so  alien  from  all  that  was  perfunctory,  actuating  the  pioneer 
workers,  one  can  the  more  readily  understand  why  village  societies  on  the  Upper 
Derwent  and  in  the  Vale  of  Pickering  should  multiply  as  fast  as  the  cells  of  the  yeast 
plant,  and  that  by  May,  1821,  N.  West  should  be  able  to  record  that  in  six  months  four 
hundred  members  had  been  added  to  the  Malton  Branch. 

Another  excerpt  from  the  Journals  gives  us  a  picture  of  a  camp  meeting  of  the  olden 
time — a  picture  worth  preserving,  because,  like  the  camp  meetings  held  on  the  Wrekin, 
Scarth  Nick,  and  Mow  Cop  itself,  it  was  staged  and  framed  amid  grand  and  impressive 
scenery.  God  can  work  His  "  greatest  wonders  "  in  souls  renewed  and  sins  forgiven  in 

*  Op.  dt.,  p.  48. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  87 

a  disused  brick-field  or  on  a  bleak  moor,  but  when  the  wonders  of  grace  are  wrought 
among  the  wonders  of  Nature  both  become  the  more  impressive.  So  S.  Smith  felt 
when  he  wrote  : — 

"August  19th,  1821. — Attended  Pickering  Camp  Meeting.  We  opened  at  half- 
past  nine.  We  sung  and  prayed  ;  and  brother  Hessey  preached.  The  praying 
companies  then  drew  out  and  took  up  five  stations,  and  the  scene  was  beautiful 
and  interesting — five  large  companies  wrestling  with  God  in  a  pleasant  valley. 
On  one  side  was  an  ancient  castle,  with  its  cloud-capt  towers,  the  ruins  of  which 
were  awfully  grand.  Another  side  presented  a  distant  view  of  the  town  of 
Pickering.  Another  view  gave  the  lofty  quarries  of  limestone.  On  another  side 
was  a  large  plantation  of  lofty  and  majestic  trees  of  different  kinds.  Through  the 
valley  ran  a  winding  brook,  calling  to  mind  these  lines  : — 

'  Our  time,  like  a  stream, 
Glides  swiftly  away.' 

But  at  the  important  moment  the  sound  of  prayer  and  praise  was  heard  through 
the  valley,  and  five  large  companies  pleaded  with  God  for  precious  souls.'  One 
soul  got  liberty  in  this  time  of  prayer,  and  when  the  usual  time  had  been  spent, 
the  companies  were  called  up  by  the  sound  of  a  horn  to  the  waggon.  When  we 
had  gone  through  the  services  of  the  day  we  concluded  the  field-labours,  and 
retired  to  hold  a  lovefeast  in  the  chapel,  where,  after  two  or  three  had  spoken,  the 
work  of  the  Lord  broke  out  on  every  hand.  Thirty  or  forty  souls  were  crying  for 
mercy  ;  others  were  praying  with  them.  I  never  before  was  eye-witness  to  so 
glorious  a  work.  Twenty-two  souls  professed  to  receive  pardon  of  all  their  past 
sins,  and  a  determination  to  flee  from  sin  for  the  time  to  come.  At  the  same  time 
we  had  preaching  on  the  outside  to  those  who  could  not  get  in.  Glory,  glory  to 
God  and  the  Lamb  for  ever." 

The  opening  of  the  chapel  referred  to  in  the  preceding  extract  had  taken  place  four 
months  before  (April  22nd),  and  was  of  such  a  character  as  to  show  that  the  occasion 
was  regarded  as  a  notable  event  in  the  town  and  district.  N.  West,  in  his  sanguine 
way,  estimates  the  number  brought  together  at  five  thousand.  No  less  than  seven 
preachers  took  part  in  the  services  held  simultaneously  within  and  outside  the  chapel. 
Jane  Ansdale  (afterwards  Mrs.  Suddards)  had  now  begun  her  useful  ministry,  and  to 
her  was  assigned  the  honour  of  preaching  in  the  chapel  both  afternoon  and  evening. 

Other  chapels  built  at  an  early  date  in  this  part  were  Swinton, 
opened  August  13th,  1820;  "John  Oxtoby  was  with  me,"  says 
S.  Laister,  the  opener,  "[and  the  Lord  gave  us  many  souls;" 
Malton,  opened  October  13th,  1822,  by  John  Verity,  then  travelling 
on  the  adjoining  Pocklington  station;  and  Kirby-Moorside,  the 
lowly  building  acquhed  in  1824  serving  until  1861,  when  it 
was  superseded  by  a  better  one.  But  Leavening  Chapel,  opened 
by  John  Verity,  October  8th,  1820,  has  more  frequent  mention 
in  the  early  Journals  and  documents  than  any  other,  probably 
because  of  its  association  with  the  eccentric  Robert  Coultas,  the 
R.  COKDINGLET.  correspondent  and  frequent  travelling  companion  of  John  Oxtoby, 


88  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

and  also  because  the  pious  clergyman  of  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Acklam  occasionally 
worshipped  within  its  walls. 

The  best  account  we  know  of  Robert  Coultas  is  a  brightly- written  memoir  from  the 
pen  of  the  veteran  Rev.  Richard  .Cordingley,  who  travelled  at  Malton  in  1826,  and  at 
Pickering  in  1856.  In  that  memoir — worth  disinterring  from  the  Magazine  and 
printing  in  extenxo — Robert  Coultas  is  rightly  described  as  "an  extraordinary  man." 
He  would  never  consent  to  stand  higher  than  the  first  on  the  list  of  exhorters,  but  yet 
having  ample  means,  he  would  go  on  extensive  religious  tours  and  evangelise  in  his  own 
peculiar  way — much  prayer  interspersed  with  conversation-preaching.  "  When  Robert 
had  worked  his  body  down,  he  used  to  return  home,  tarry  awhile,  and  then  commence 
again  in  some  neighbourhood  whither  he  thought  Providence  called  him,  with 
a  companion  or  without,  as  the  case  might  be.  He  laboured  with  great  success  in 
various  villages  and  towns,  still  following  his  old  habit  of  returning  home  to  rest  when 
exhausted  with  excessive  toil."  He  was  present  at  the  Pickering  Annual  Camp 
Meeting  of  1856,  and  though  Mr.  Cordingley  had  not  seen  him  for  thirty  years,  he 
knew  him  at  once  by  his  loud  and  unmistakable  "Amen."  He  laboured  in  the  prayer 
meeting  after  the  lovefeast  with  all  his  heart  and  strength.  "  Souls,  as  usual,  were 
converted ;  for  never,"  said  he,  "  had  we  a  camp  meeting  at  Pickering  without  souls 
being  converted."  He  quietly  fell  on  sleep,  June  13th,  1857,  aged  86  years. 

As  early  as  1819,  W.  Clowes  notes  hearing  "a  truly  gospel  sermon  by  Mr.  Simpson" 
in  the  church  at  Acklam.  The  same  evening  Clowes  himself  preached  in  a  house,  and 
he  records  with  satisfaction,  not  untinged  with  surprise,  that  Mr.  Simpson  came  to 
the  service  and  gave  him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  Sampson  Turner,  too,  when 
preaching  in  Leavening  Chapel,  October  9th,  1822 — "as  compact  a  little  chapel  as  ever 
I  saw  " — had  Mr.  Simpson  as  a  hearer,  and  notes  in  his  Journal  that  "  he  is  favourable  to 
our  people,  and  I  believe  a  truly  converted  man."  We  meet,  during  the  course  especially 
of  our  earlier  history,  with  so  many  clergymen  of  the  type  of  the  parson  of  Brantingham, 
who  "  advanced  in  a  very  menacing  attitude "  towards  Clowes  when  the  latter  was 
preaching,  and  then  "  suddenly  turned  to  the  right-about  and  wheeled  off  the  ground," 
that  it  is  a  relief  at  last  to  come  upon  one  clergyman  in  the  East  Riding  of  quite 
another  spirit.*  Our  first  missionaries  were  menaced  with  the  clenched  fist  of  the 
parochial  clergyman  much  oftener  than  they  were  offered  the  right  hand  of  fellowship. 
All  honour  then  to  him  of  Acklam  who,  if  well-accredited  stories  be  true,  went  to  such 
lengths  of  friendliness  to  our  Church  as  got  him  into  trouble  with  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  What  would  the  archdeacon  say  when  told  that  parson  Simpson  not  only 
frequented  conventicles  and  welcomed  itinerant  preachers  to  bed  and  board,  but  had 
actually  caused  a  notice  to  be  put  up  in  the  church-porch,  which  read :  "  No  service. 
Gone  to  the  camp  meeting"?  Of  course  he  was  censured  and  prohibited  from 
attending  any  more  conventicle  services,  and  so  we  have  the  further  picture  of  the 

*Rev.  W.  Garner  speaks  of  Brantingham  as  "a  place  noted  for  rabid  opposition  to  religious 
liberty."  It  was  here  Mr.  Garner  first  met  with  vicar  John  Gibson's  notorious  pamphlet  against  the 
Primitive  Methodists.  To  this  he  gave  a  trenchant  answer  in  his  "Dialogues  between  the  Rev.  J. 
Gibson,  B.D.,  the  Vicar  of  Brent,  with  Furneux  Pelham,  Herts,  and  Martin  Bull,  Primitive 
Methodist." 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  89 

clergyman  taking  his  stand,  sometimes  even  amid  frost  and  snow,  by  chapel  door  or 
window,  to  listen  to  the  sermon.* 

As  a  circuit,  Malton  has  had  a  continuous  and  steady-going  existence  since  1822. 
Until  the  formation  of  the  Leeds  District  in  1845,  it  stood  in  right  chronological  order 
on  the  stations  of  the  Hull  District,  just  after  Pocklington  and 
Brotherton,  i.e.,  Pontefract,  Circuits.     Though  Pickering  was  made 
a  circuit  in  1823,  the  arrangement  was  premature,  lasting  for  that 
year  only,  and  it  had  to  wait  until  1842  before  it  was  again  granted 
circuit    independence.      The    parent   circuit    was    left    with    two 
preachers  and    470    members,   while    Pickering  began  its  course 
with  347  members  and  three  preachers,  of  whom,  it  is  interesting 
to  note,  John  Fawsit  was  the  third. 

It  would  be  unpardonable  were  this  history  to  contain  no 
further  reference  to  one  who,  as  an  ardent  and  gifted  Bible-student 
and  author,  deserves  to  be  ranked  with  J.  A.  Bastow  and  Thomas 
Greenfield.  They  are  few  indeed  still  surviving  who  remember 
his  bright  personality  and  his  enthusiasm  for  learning;  for  he  died  in  1857  at 
the  early  age  of  thirty-seven,  just  when  his  literary  powers  were  ripening.  But 
though  J.  Fawsit  died  comparatively  young,  his  application  had  been  so  intense  that 
several  books  came  from  his  pen  that  deserve  to  live.  The  best  of  these  are  "The 
Sinner's  Handbook  to  the  Cross "  and  "  The  Saint's  Handbook  to  the  Crown,"  the 
latter  revised  for  the  press  on  his  death-bed.  These  books  are  written  in  a  devout 
practical  spirit,  give  evidence  of  wide  reading,  and  in  the  allusiveness  and  occasional 
quaintnesses  of  their  style  remind  us  of  some  of  the  lighter  Puritan  writers.  J.  Fawsit 
was  born  at  Scotter,  and  entered  the  ministry  in  1841,  the  same  year  in  which 
J.  Bootland,  J.  R.  Parkinson,  D.  Ingham,  and  J.  T.  Shepherd,  well-known  preachers  of 
the  old  Hull  District,  began  their  toil.  Alter  travelling  at  Retford,  Leeds,  Malton, 
London,  and  Bradwell,  he  settled  down  at  Wellow  in  the  pleasant  Dukeries,  and  did 
good  service  to  the  Connexion  to  which  he  was  so  attached.  To  no  one  whom  we  have 
known — certainly  to  no  Primitive  Methodist — would  the  title,  "The  Earnest  Student," 
be  more  appropriate.  He  was  not  born  to  affluence.  He  had  to  labour  for  the  support 
of  his  family,  and,  next  after  his  religious  duties,  he  made  that  his  chief  business,  but 
books  he  would  have.  One  of  the  most  vivid  impressions  of  our  boyhood  is  the  mental 
picture  of  his  large  library,  with  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  "  History  of  the  World  "  standing 
out  among  the  rest  (a  title  that  struck  our  youthful  mind  as  a  tolerably  large  order). 

*The  strange  story  of  how  John  Verity  won  a  chapel  from  the  squire  by  his  preaching  seems  too 
well  authenticated  to  be  summaril}r  dismissed ;  but  it  is  not  given  in  the  text,  for  the  simple  reason 
that,  when  the  above  was  written,  no  reliable  evidence  had  been  obtained  as  to  the  name  and  situation 
of  the  village  in  question.  We,  however,  were  inclined  to  locate  the  village  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Malton,  because  the  story  is  linked  in  time  and  locality  with  Verity's  introduction  to  the  clergyman, 
whom  we  took  to  be  Mr.  Simpson.  Just  before  going  to  press,  the  Rev.  "W.  R.  Widdowson  informs 
us  he  has  come  across  a  note  of  the  late  Eev.  S.  Smith,  which  states  that  the  village  was  Scagglethorpe, 
near  Malton,  and  that  the  chapel  thus  strangely  acquired  continued  to  be  used  by  us  until  the  demise 
of  the  squire,  when  it  passed  out  of  our  hands.  The  story  is  told  at  full  length  by  the  late  Rev.  Jesse 
Ashworth,  Aldersgate  Magazine,  1899. 


90  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

But  J.  Fawsit  was  no  mere  book-worm  :  he  was  a  student.     The  writer  of  his  memoir 
says  truly : — 

"His  love  of  knowledge  was  a  passion,  and  it  never  cooled.  .  .  His  application 
was  most  intense  and  protracted.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  his  lamp  might  have  been  seen  burning ;  indeed,  till  weakness  compelled 
him  to  desist,  he  spent  very  few  hours  in  bed.  He  was  a  self-taught  man,  and  did 
honour  to  that  class  of  individuals  who  undertake  to  educate  themselves.  He 
travelled  much,  and  had  acquired  the  habit,  not  only  of  reading  as  he  walked,  but 
of  writing  too  ;  the  first  draft  of  much  that  he  published  was  first  put  on  paper  in 
this  way." 

Earnest  students  of  the  type  of  John  Fawsit  are  sparingly  sown  and  rare  in  any 
community.  But  it  so  happened  that  the  newly-formed  Pickering  Circuit  could  show 
two  such  uncommon  growths.  Besides  its  junior  minister,  it  had  for  one  of  its  leading 
officials  John  Luraley,  whose  life  affords  another  striking  example  of  self-help  and 
strenuous  mental  culture.  Robert  Coultas  and  John  Luniley  were  both  products  of  the 
pleasant  Vale  of  Pickering,  and  yet  they  differed  as  widely  as  any  two  sincere  Christian 
men  of  the  same  community  can  possibly  do.  One  lived  largely  in  the  world  of  books 
and  thought,  of  which  world  the  other  knew  little  and  for  which  he  cared  still  less. 
While  Fawsit  would  appreciate  the  good  points  of  the  extraordinary  strolling  evangelist, 
he  would  be  drawn  to  the  thoughtful  druggist  of  Kirby-Moorside  by  force  of  strong 
affinity.  He  would  find  in  him  a  kindred  soul,  and  by  congenial  intercourse  the  already 
strongly-marked  bias  of  each  would  be  confirmed.  Men  like  John  Lumley,  George 
Race,  John  Delafield,  and  others  who  might  be  named,  are  as  genuine  products  of 
Primitive  Methodism  as  John  Oxtoby,  Robert  Coultas.  or  W.  Hickingbotham.  They 
always  have  been,  and  will  be  still  more  in  the  future,  an  indispensable  element  in  its 
growth  and  strengthening.  Hence  they  claim  our  recognition,  and  all  the  more,  because 
their  tastes  and  pursuits  being  "  caviare  to  the  general,"  their  lives  devoid  of  startling 
incident  and  their  characters  of  eccentricity,  they  may  so  easily  be  passed  over. 

John  Lumley  began  his  career  at  thirteen  as  a  farm  labourer,  but  gave  himself  with 
such  ardour  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  that  he  became  a  schoolmaster,  and  ultimately 
a  druggist.  Neither  mathematics  nor  pharmacy,  however,  could  wean  him  from  Biblical 
study.  He  early  laid  a  good  foundation  by  reading  the  New  Testament  through  once 
a  month,  and  set  himself  to  master  the  points  at  issue  between  Calvinism  and 
Arminianism,  as  part  of  his  equipment  for  that  controversy,  committing  to  memory  the 
whole  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  In  1838,  he  lost  his  official  position  in  connection 
with  the  "Wesleyan  Methodists  owing  to  his  refusal  to  pledge  himself  not  to  preach  for 
other  communities.  In  1840,  he  joined  the  Primitive  Methodists  and  became  a  local 
preacher,  school  superintendent,  and  class  leader.  John  Lumley,  like  Matthew  Denton 
and  Thomas  Church,  must  have  an  early  place  in  the  list  of  Primitive  Methodist 
laymen  who  ventured  into  the  field  of  authorship;  for,  in  1844,  he  published  a  work 
on  "The  Necessity,  Nature,  and  Design  of  the  Atonement,"  which  received  very 
favourable  notice.  In  1845,  he  removed  for  the  second  time  to  the  United  States,  and 
died  there  in  1850.  His  interesting  memoir  was  written  by  W.  Thompson  Lumley, 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  91 

who  for  the  long  period  of  sixty -three  years  was  associated  with  the  Pickering  Circuit 
as  one  of  its  most  prominent  and  capable  officials,  and  died  as  recently  as  1897. 

The  family  of  Frank  has  had  a  long  and  honourable  connection  with  the  Pickering 
Circuit,  dating  back  to  1833,  when  Ann,  the  fair  daughter  of  the  house,  was  converted, 
and,  despite  the  bitter  opposition  of  her  parents  and  brothers, 
joined  the  Church.  In  the  end  her  firmness  and  tact  overcame 
all  family  opposition,  and  she  had  the  joy  of  welcoming  parents 
and  most  of  her  brothers  into  the  same  fellowship.  Soon  she  was 
pressed  to  speak  in  public,  but  entered  on  the  work  with  extreme 
diffidence.  Her  first  effort,  however,  proved  so  remarkably  success- 
ful in  its  spiritual  results,  that  all  scruples  were  set  at  rest,  and 
for  sixty  long  years  her  name  stood  on  the  plan  as  a  local  preacher. 
Her  tall  and  slender  form,  her  resonant  voice  bespeaking  intense 
conviction,  and  her  womanly  tact  rendered  her  ministrations  very 
acceptable,  and  she  preached  far  and  wide  in  the  villages  round 
Pickering  and  Kirby-Moorside.  For  three  or  four  years  after 
beginning  to  preach  she  was  accompanied  by  a  young  lady-friend,  Alice  Jane  Garvin, 
who  was  gifted  with  an  excellent  voice  and  sang  the  gospel  while  the  other  preached 
it.  The  two  sometimes  went  on  foot,  but  at  other  times,  we  are  told,  each  rode  on 
a  smart  well-groomed  donkey ;  and  the  picture  thus  called  up  is  not  at  all  an  unpleasing 
one  When  Ann  Frank  entered  into  the  marriage  state  with  Mr.  Swales  her  chosen 
work  suffered  little  interruption.  In  their  home  at  Pickering  cheerful  hospitality  was 
dispensed,  and  the  godly  pair  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  their  only  son  enter  the 
ranks  of  the  ministry  in  which  he  has  faithfully  served  upwards  of  thirty-six  years.* 
Mrs.  Swales  died  February  4th,  1895. 

Our  sketch  of  the  past  history  of  Pickering  Circuit  would  be  incomplete  were  it  to 
contain  no  reference  to  Messrs.  J.  Frank,  J.P.,  of  Pickering,  and  W.  Allenby,  of 
Helmsley.  Both  happily  survive  as  veterans,  with  a  record  of  more  than  half 
a  century's  faithful  service,  that  has  been  of  untold  advantage 
to  the  district  in  which  they  reside.  Mr.  Frank  is  the  Circuit 
Steward,  and  has  been  connected  with  the  Pickering  Sunday 
School  for  fifty  years.  Mr.  Allenby  is  also  a  Sunday  School 
Superintendent,  and  became  a  local  preacher  in  the  early  fifties, 
along  with  his  life-long  friend,  Rev.  Joseph  Sheale. 

THE  WOLD  CIRCUITS  :     DRIFFIELD  AND  BRIDLINGTON. 

Both  Driffield  and  Bridlington  are  "in  the  Wolds."  The  two 
towns  were  missioned  about  the  same  time,  and,  as  heads  of 
branches  or  circuits,  their  relations  with  each  other  have  been 

31 K,     VV  .     A  l.l,r. .N  )  i  i  . 

close  and  intimate  ;  indeed,  for  some  years  Bridlington  was  a  branch 

of  Driffield  Circuit.     Hence,  as  geographically  and  historically  the  two  go  together,  they 

may  be  fittingly  considered  under  the  common  designation  of  "the  Wold  Circuits." 

*  Their  daughter,  too,  it  may  be  noted,  is  married  to  the  Rev.  "W.  A.  Eyre. 


92 


I'UIMITIVE    MKTHODIST    CHUKCH. 


By  the  \Voltls  we  are  to  understand  that  well-defined  upland  tract,  which,  like  a  great 
crescent  of  chalk-hills,  sweeps  round  from  Flamborough  Head  to  the  Humber,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  low  ground  of  Holderness,  on  the  north  by  the  Vale  of 
Pickering,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Vale  of  York.  From  time  immemorial  Driffield, 
planted  at  the  foot  of  these  oolitic  uplands,  has  been  the  chief  town — the  capital  of  the 
Wolds.  With  its  clear  sparkling  trout-streams,  its  flour  mills,  its  clean,  pleasant  streets, 
its  air  of  prosperous  comfort,  it  has  yet  had  a  long  history.  Driffield  embalms  the 
name  of  l)eira,  a  subdivision  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Northumbrian  Alfred  of 
Northumberland  had  his  castle  here,  and  the  Moot  Hill  is  still  the  name  of  the 
eminence  on  which  the  folk-mote  assembled,  and  a  tablet  in  Little  Driffield  Church 
commemorates  Alfred's  death  in  705.  Busy  and  thriving  as  Driffield  is,  it  still  clings 


MIDDLE  STREET  SOUTH,  DRIFFIELD, 


to  some  of  the  old-world  customs.  Its  parish  clerk  still  rings  the  harvest-bell  at  five 
o'clock  every  morning  for  twenty-eight  days  during  harvest ;  for  the  Wold  country  is 
nothing  if  not  agricultural,  and  Driffield  is  its  emporium. 

This  interesting  district  has,  from  a  Primitive  Methodist  standpoint,  been  more 
fortunate  than  many  other  parts  of  the  Connexion,  in  that  its  story  has  been  well  and 
fully  told  in  a  work  easily  accessible.  We  chiefly  confine  ourselves,  therefore,  to  the 
first  missioning  of  the  Wolds  and  its  chief  circuit  towns,  Driffield  and  Bridlington, 
referring  our  readers  to  Rev.  H.  Woodcock's  "Primitive  Methodism  on  the  Yorkshire 
Wolds  "  for  fuller  details. 

When  and  by  whom  was  Primitive  Methodism  introduced  into  Driffield?  Perhaps 
we  may  not  be  able  to  arrive  at  absolute  certainty  on  these  points;  but  there  is 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  93 

a  passage  in  the  Journals  of  W.  Clowes  which  may  at  least  yield  a  strong  probability. 
In  the  passage  in  question,  Clowes  reflects,  for  him,  rather  strongly,  on  the  action  of 
certain  members  of  the  Hull  Circuit  Committee,  who  interfered  with  the  arrangements 
for  placing  the  preachers,  made  September,  1819.  Quite  illegally,  he  maintains,  and 
ill-advisedly,  Samuel  Laister  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  Yorkshire  Wolds,  which,  says 
he,  "  turned  out  as  I  fully  expected — a  complete  failure."  Be  it  said,  Clowes  rinds  no 
fault  with  S.  Laister.  On  the  contrary,  he  affirms  :  "  He  was  greatly  in  the  doctrine  of 
a  present  salvation,  and  had  a  burning  love  for  the  souls  of  men."*  But  he  does  find 
fault  with  the  Committee-men  for  not  suffering  themselves  to  be  guided  by  men  of  riper 
experience  than  themselves ;  and  he  roundly  tells  them  that  they  ought  to  have  known 
better  than  to  send  an  unseasoned  missionary  to  an  untried  country  like  the  Wolds,  and 
in  the  winter  time  too.  It  is  evident  then  that  S.  Laister  did  attempt  the  Wolds 
mission,  and,  if  so,  he  would  not  be  likely  to  miss  Driffield  ;  and  we  ha.ve  his  own 
statement  that  he  was  taken  out  by  the  Hull  Circuit  in  1819,  and  the  first  printed 
record  of  his  labours  we  have  relates  to  Malton  Circuit  in  1820.  So  far,  then,  as  the 
records  go,  S.  Laister  may  have  attempted  a  Wolds  mission  in  the  Fall  of  1819 ;  nor, 
so  far  as  we  are  aware,  has  tradition  anything  to  say  against  it.  S.  Laister  may  have 
been  "the  aggressive  preacher  from  Hull  whose  name  is  unrecorded,"!  who  took  his 
stand  on  the  Cross  Hill  and  preached  to  the  curious  crowd ;  and,  though  under  the 
conditions  prevailing  at  the  time,  S.  Laister's  mission  may  have  been  a  comparative 
failure,  just  as  Paiil's  mission  to  Athens  was,  like  that  also,  it  may  not  have  been 
altogether  a  failure.  The  probable  conclusion  arrived  at,  then,  is  that  the  nucleus  of 
a  society  may  have  been  formed  as  early  as  1819. 

The  first  society,  we  are  told,  met  on  Sunday  evenings  at  a  bakehouse  in  Westgate,  and 
had  for  its  leader  Thomas  Wood,  "  the  little  shoemaker."  Thus  early  we  come  across 
the  name  of  the  man  who,  until  his  death  in  1881,  was  as  the 
main-spring  of  Driffield  Primitive  Methodism.  We  have  already 
noted  his  conversion  in  the  Pocklington  Circuit,  and  how  he  never 
rested  until  he  got  his  companion  and  life-long  friend,  W.  Sanderson, 
converted.  In  1819,  we  find  him  removed  to  Driffield,  and  though 
but  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  he  begins  to  take  upon  him  the 
care  of  the  freshly-formed  society.  Though  living  in  lodgings 
himself,  he  found  the  unmarried  preacher  bed  and  board ;  but  as 
this  arrangement  was  not  without  its  difficulties,  he  one  day  said 
to  his  betrothed  :  "  We  must  get  married  soon  and  make  a  home 
for  the  preacher."  Further  illustrations  of  what  Thomas  Wood 
was  as  a  man,  and  of  what  he  did  as  an  official  for  the  Driffield 

Circuit  during  his  service  of  sixty  years,  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Woodcock's  book.  What 
strikes  us  in  reference  to  the  man  is  the  aptness  of  the  description  applied  to  him — 
"  a  man  of  double-distilled  common-sense."  And  there  was  no  element  of  bitterness 
in  the  distillation.  He  had  the  Yorkshireman's  plod  and  pertinacity.  He  had  too,  the 

*  Clowes'  Journals,  pp.  166-7. 
f" Corners  of  our  Vineyard:  Driffield  Circuit,"  in  Christian  Messenger,  p.  189. 


GEO.    BULLOCK. 
Deed-poll  Member. 


04,  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

Yorkshireman's  cheery  optimism.  That  he  was  no  crier  up  of  the  past  and  crier  down 
of  the  present,  may  be  gathered  from  one  or  two  of  his  acuta  dicta,  which  also  have 
their  value  as  generalisations  of  our  history  by  one  who  had  long 
experience  to  go  upon. 

"Modern  Primitive  Methodism,  with  its  Schools,  its  Bands 
of  Hope,  and  its  Missionary  Institutions,  is  a  nobler  thing  than 
early  Primitive  Methodism,  with  its  excitement  and  its  songs. 

"Many  of  our  early  members  were  refugees  from  other 
Churches ;  now  we  have  a  good  society  of  our  own  creating. 

"Fifty  years  ago,  when  we  laid  hold  of  a  talented  man  like 
'Willie'  Sanderson,  we  were  never  puzzled  to  know  what  to 
do  with  him ;  and  when  we  could  not  get  the  man  we  wanted, 
we  made  the  best  use  of  those  we  could  get.  Some  of  the  least 
promising  turned  out  the  most  successful."  * 

Another  early  ar.d  valuable  acquisition  to  the  cause  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  the 
Wolds  was  George  Bullock,  of  Wetwang,  a  man  of  vigorous  mind  well-furnished  by 
reading,  skilful  in  debate,  and  sagacious  in  counsel.  For  sixty  years  he  never  missed 

an  appointment  except  in  case  of  sick- 
ness, and  when  in  his  prime  he  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  and  hard-working 
local  preachers  in  the  East  Riding.  His 
worth  was  fittingly  recognised  by  his 
election  as  a  member  of  the  Deed  Pol 
by  the  Conference  of  1875.  He  ceased 
from  labour  in  1887  at  the  age  of  83 
years. 

A  reference  to  the  record  already 
given  of  the  ministerial  fixtures  made 
September,  1820,  by  the  Hull  Quarterly 
Meeting,  will  show  that  at  that  date 
a  footing  had  been  got  both  in  Driffield 
and  in  Bridlington.  Then,  in  January, 
1821,  Clowes  visits  Driffield,  and  on 
Thursday,  the  18th,  he  notes  in  his 
Journal :  "  I  preached  at  Driffield  in  the 
Play  House,  our  Society  having  taken 
it  for  a  preaching-place."  The  building 
here  referred  to  was  known  as  the  Hunt 
Room,  and  was  used  for  balls,  concerts, 
and  theatrical  entertainments. 

In  1821,  the  erection  of  a  chapel  in 
Mill  Street  was  begun.     The  undertak- 
ing was  a  weighty  one  for  the  society,  and  the  pressure  of  monetary  and  other  difficulties 


DRIFFIELD  OLD   CHAPEL. 


*  "  Primitive  Methodism  on  the  Yorkshire  Wolds,"  p.  44. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


95 


led  some  to  predict  the  chapel  would  never  get  finished,  while  others  feared  if  finished  it 
would  never  be  paid  for.  The  extrication  of  the  society  from  its  embarrassments  is 
traditionally  attributed  to  the  prayers  and  efforts  of  John  Oxtoby,  who  was  sent  down 
by  the  Hull  Circuit  to  render  help  at  this  juncture.  One  of  the  first  fruits  of  his  visit 
was  the  conversion  of  Mr.  W.  Byas,  a  wealthy  retired  farmer,  for  whom  John  Oxtoby 
had  worked  in  former  days.  He  was  one  of  those  who  heard  Oxtoby's  first  sermon 
preached  in  Driffield,  and  after  it  spent  a  restless  [prayerful  night.  His  state  of  mind 
being  made  known  to  Oxtoby  and  T.  Wood,  they  visited  Mr.  Byas  at  his  home,  with 

the  result]  that  he  found 

peace.  He  gave  a  liberal 
donation  towards  the 
building  fund,  and  ad- 
vanced the  sum  of  £350 
on  mortgage,  which  at 
his  death  was  willed  to 
the  trustees,  and  the 
bequest  placed  them  in  an 
easy  financial  position.* 
The  chapel,  we  are  told, 
was  originally  only  seven- 
teen feet  from  the  floor 
to  the  ceiling,  yet  some 
years  after,  a  gallery  was 
put  in  four  pews  deep ; 
in  1856,  the  walls  were 
raised  considerably,  the 
gallery  enlarged,  more 
lights  inserted,  and  the 
accommodation  increased 
by  130  lettable  sittings.! 
The  present  noble  chapel 
was  built  in  1876,  under 
the  superintendency  of 
Kev.  T.  Waumsley,  and 
the  circuit  owns  also  two 


DRIFFIELD   NEW   CHAPEL. 

good  preachers'  houses  erected  the  same  year. 

*  "  To  the  infant  cause  at  Driffield,  W.  Byas,  Esq.,  was  a  nursing  father.  He  was  brought  to  God 
by  the  simple  but  powerful  instrumentality  of  John  Oxtoby.  After  his  conversion  he  often  invited 
the  preachers  to  his  hospitable  and  plentiful  table.  Driffield  was  the  first  station  to  which  we  were 
appointed  forty-five  years  ago  [1823].  Mr.  Byas  gratuitously  entertained  us  with  board  and  lodgings ; 
and  his  kindness  was  seconded  by  his  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Hall,  and  his  servant  Margaret  Easingwood, 
now  Mrs.  Yokes.  The  chapel,  too,  which  he  liberally  assisted  to  build,  he  placed  in  easy  circum- 
stances before  his  demise."  Rev.  W.  Garner,  "  Life  of  W.  Clowes,  1868,"  p.  273. 

t  The  particulars  here  given,  relative  to  the  first  chapel  and  its  subsequent  alterations,  are  found 
in  an  article  by  Eev.  H.  Knowles,  Primitive  Methodist  Magazine,  1857,  p.  11. 


96  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

From  the  very  beginning,  Driffield  was  rightly  considered  a  strong  branch.  This 
being  so,  one  may  naturally  wonder  why  it  was  not  granted  circuit  independence  until 
1837.  Aspirations  for  self-government  evidently  were  not  wanting;  for,  in  1832, 
a  meeting  of  circuit  officials,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Bullock,  Reed,  Huntsman,  Panton, 
Cobb,  Sellers,  and  the  three  travelling-preachers,  Messrs.  Garbutt,  Eckersley,  and  John 
Sharp,  was  held  to  consider  the  question.  A  resolution  in  favour  of  circuit  independ- 
ence was  arrived  at,  but  the  project  did  not  then  mature.  The  Hull  Circuit  authorities 
were  against  it,  and  the  branch  reluctantly,  or  otherwise,  acquiesced.  An  explanation 
of  this  long  retention  of  a  strong  branch  in  a  subordinate  position — an  explanation, 
which  explains  more  than  this  particular  case,  is  suggested  by  Rev.  W.  Garner's 
remarks  to  the  effect  that,  under  the  influence  of  impaired  health  and  increasing 
infirmities,  "W.  Clowes  became  somewhat  timorous  in  chapel-building,  and  showed  little  or 
no  readiness  to  convert  branches  or  missions  into  independent  stations.  He  adds,  to 
quote  his  precise  words  : — 

"Without  the  guiding  and  sustaining  hand  of  Hull,  he  was  afraid  to  let  them 
try  to  stand  and  walk  alone.  Through  this  timorous  policy,  several  branches,  for 
'  example  Driffield,  Brigg,  Whitehaven,  Barnard  Castle — were  retained  in  connection 
with  Hull  long  after  they  were  qualified  to  support  and  govern  themselves.  By 
these  stations  large  surpluses  were  often  remitted  to  the  parent  branch,  not  indeed 
for  its  individual  use,  but  to  aid  it  in  its  general  missionary  operations.  ('  Life  of 
Clowes,'  p.  406)." 

But  "the  day  of  freedom  dawned  at  length,"  and  in  1837,  Driffield  was  granted 
circuit  autonomy.  Its  first  bulky  plan  has  on  it  the  names  of  five  travelling-preachers 
and  some  fifty  distinct  preaching-places.  The  next  year  its  reported  membership  was 
816.  Bridlington  remained  a  branch  of  Driffield  until  Christmas,  1857,  and  Hornsea 
in  Holderness  until  1861.  To-day  Driffield  is  one  of  the  widest,  and  numerically,  the 
strongest  country  circuit  in  the  Connexion,  reporting  to  the  Conference  of  1903 
a  membership  of  1082  ;  indeed,  there  is  only  one  large-town  circuit  which  is  numerically 
stronger — viz.,  Leicester  Second,  with  1100  members.  Driffield  has  the  area  of 
a  diocese  rather  than  that  of  an  average  circuit.  The  situation  of  some  of  its  places, 
and  their  distance  from  the  circuit-town,  involve  some  difficulty  in  working  and 
considerable  expense,  yet  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the  circuit  can  be  divided.  For 
a  few  years  the  experiment  was  tried  of  making  NafTerton  the  head  of  a  station,  but  the 
arrangement  does  not  seem  to  have  worked  satisfactorily,  and  in  1880  there  was 
a  reversion  to  the  old  arrangement. 

Almost  every  one  of  the  thirty-four  places  on  the  Driffield  Circuit  Plan  has  its  story 
to  tell,  as  Mr.  Woodcock  has  shown  in  his  interesting  volume.  Langtoft — "  the  village 
of  floods  and  water-spouts" — has  already  been  referred  to  as  the  scene  of  one  of  the 
earliest  English  camp  meetings.*  If  the  churchyard  of  Kilham  holds  all  that  is  mortal 
of  Capt.  Edward  Anderson,  that  of  Beeford  shows  the  tomb  of  probably  the  most 
popular  boy-preacher  of  Primitive  Methodism.  Thomas  Watson,  a  native  of  Beeford, 

*  Ante,  vol.  i.,  pp.  66  and  68,  where  a  view  of  Langtoft  Church  is  given,  as  also  the  tombstone  of 
Capt.  Anderson. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


97 


t par 'ed  tV,isJHfflpe«v>i>er  IS'" 
''•n  the  !^year  of  HIS  a£* 

the  6th  of  His  mintstery 
f  sljander   aa,e,cieep  piety 
extraordinary  abiiHies 
Jtier  HJS  deatk  a  subject  of  deep 


was  only  nineteen  years  of  age  at  his  death  in  1837,  and  yet  he  was  a  travelling- 
preacher  six  years.  Contemporary  documents  show  that  he  was  in  constant  request  for 
special  services,  and  as  his  epitaph  records :  His  slender  age,  deep  piety,  and  extra- 
ordinary abilities,  render  his  death  a  subject  of  deep  and  lasting  regret.  Beeford  can 

also  cite  its  instance  of  clerical  animus,  which 
took  the  form  of  a  vexatious  law-suit.  When 
in  1873  the  chapel  was  in  course  of  erection, 
the  late  Canon  Trevor  entered  an  action  against 
the  trustees  for  an  alleged  encroachment  on 
certain  glebe-land  which  he  held  in  trust.  The 
reverend  plaintiff  valued  the  land  in  dispute  at 
four  shillings,  while  the  defendants'  solicitor 
stated  its  real  value  to  be  about  fourpence 
The  Canon  lost  two  trials,  and  had  to  pay  some 
two  hundred  pounds  in  costs. 

Driffield  Circuit  has  been  prolific  in  men  and 
women  of  sterling  character,  whose  worth  finds 
due  recognition  in  the  pages  of  Mr.  Woodcock's 
book,  so  often  referred  to.  Besides  Thomas 
Wood,  Driffield  has  had  such  officials  as 
Messrs.  Thomas  Jackson,  Isaac  Miller,  and 
David  Railton,  the  "man  greatly  beloved," 
who  happily  still  survives.  At  Middleton- 
on-the- Wolds  lived  and  died  (August,  1850) 
Mr.  F.  Rudd,  the  father  of  Rev.  F.  Rudd, 
who  for  thirty-one  years  was  a  local  preacher, 
second  to  none  in  the  East  Riding.  At  Hutton 
Cranswick,  amongst  many  striking  characters, 

Thomas  Escritt,  familiarly  and  affectionately  known  as  "  the  Bishop  of  Cranswick," 
was  the  outstanding  figure.  As  you  saw  him  seated  in  the  chapel,  clad  in  his  Sunday 
best,  with  his  long  snowy  locks  and  venerable  form,  he  looked  like  a  country  clergyman, 
though  he  was  only  a  farm-labourer.  But  "  he  was  the  most  beautiful  specimen  of  a  farm- 
labourer  I  ever  met  with  or  heard  of,"  says  Rev.  J.  Scruton,  himself  a  native  of  the 
village.  "  He  was  a  genius  and  a  natural  orator,  though  coy  and  shy.  He  was  a  man  of 
the  Bible,  a  man  ©f  eloquence,  and  a  man  of  God."  Thomas  Escritt  loved  his  employers, 
and  was  beloved  in  return,  and  his  wish  that  he  might  be  buried  by  the  side  of  his  old 
master  was  readily  granted.  For  fifty  years,  as  he  went  to  his  daily  work,  he  was 
accustomed  to  turn  aside  to  a  particular  spot  to  pray  for  grace  and  help  to  do* his  duty; 
and  in  the  evening,  as  he  returned  from  work,  standing  on  the  same  spot,  to  thank  God 
for  His  vouchsafed  presence  during  the  day.  In  this  way,  through  half  a  century, 
Thomas  Escritt  celebrated  matins  and  vespers,  until  in  the  course  of  time  the  trodden 
grass  showed  a  well-defined  path.  At  this  sacred  try  sting- place  an  annual  camp  meeting 
was  held,  called  by  the  villagers  "Thomas  Escritt's  Camp  Meeting,"  as  a  token  of 
respect  for  the  saintly  old  man,  who  died  January,  1885,  aged  87  years. 


98  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

A  man  of  quite  another  stamp  was  Robert  Belt,  blacksmith,  of  West  Lutton,  honest, 
sturdy,  fearless.  One  Sunday  morning,  as  he  was  going  to  his  appointment,  he  observed 
Sir  Tatton  Sykes  doing  what  he  thought  ought  not  to  be  done  on  the  Lord's  Day,  and 
he  went  up  to  the  baronet  and  told  him  so.  The  rebuke,  though  it  was  taken  with 
ill-grace  at  the  time,  in  the  end  procured  for  Robert  Belt  Sir  Tatton's  respect,  and 
patronage  as  well  And  here,  it  should  be  said  to  the  credit  of  Sir  Tatton,  one  of  the 
great  land-owners  and  magnates  of  the  Wolds,  that,  despite  his  training  and  associations, 
and  in  the  teeth  of  the  clerical  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  he  was  not  slow  to 
recognise  the  value  of  Primitive  Methodism.  He  gave  land  to  erect  three  chapels — 
Wansford,  Wetwang,  and  Sledmere.  The  grant  for  the  last-named  was  largely  due  to 
the  pluck,  persistence,  and  personal  solicitation  of  Rev.  C.  Leafe,  who,  while  he 
travelled  the  Driffield  Circuit,  also  achieved  the  task  of  building  chapels  at  Beswick 
and  Watton.  Sir  Tatton  Sykes  is  credited  with  having  expressed  the  following  judgment 
concerning  the  influence  of  Methodism  in  the  Wolds.  Though  Methodism  has  no  need 
to  seek  for  testimonials  to  the  value  of  its  work,  it  cannot  but  be  agreeable  to  have  the 
findings  of  its  annalists  and  historians  confirmed  by  an  outsider,  who  is  at  the  same 
time  a  resident  hereditary  landlord  of  the  district. 

"If  it  had  not  been  for  the  Dissenters  the  English  people  would  have  been 
heathens  ;  and  they  are  worthy  of  a  site  on  which  to  build  a  chapel  in  every  village 
in  the  land.  Most  of  the  religion  between  Malton  and  Driffield  is  to  be  found  amongst 
the  Methodists." 

The  most  pertinent  facts  belonging  to  the  introduction  of  Primitive  Methodism  into 
Bridlington  can  soon  be  given.  John  Coulson  has  the  honour  of  being  the  Connexion's 
pioneer  labourer  in  Bridlington  and  its  vicinity.  His  name  stands  in  connection  with 
Bridlington  on  the  plan  of  ministerial  fixtures  made  September,  1820.  Tradition  tells 
that  he  walked  over  from  Driffield  one  Saturday  afternoon  so  as  to  be  in  time  for  the 
close  of  the  Bridlington  Market,  and  that  his  first  service  was  interrupted  by  the 
constable.  It  gives  also  reminiscences  of  his  visits  to  Flamborough  and  Filey.  Before 
the  close  of  the  year  W.  Clowes  made  his  way  from  Preston-in-Holderness  to  Bridlington, 
in  order  to  survey  the  land  and  have  a  consultation  with  Mr.  Coulson  as  to  the  prospects 
of  the  mission  already  begun.  He  speaks  of  finding  already  thirty  members  at  Brid- 
lington, and  of  assisting  Mr.  Coulson  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  the  working  of  the  mission. 
The  next  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Hull  Circuit  appointed  Clowes  to  reinforce  and  still 
further  extend  this  east-coast  mission ;  and  his  Journals  show  that  from  January  to 
March,  and  again  in  July,  1821,  he  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  opening  up  the  coast 
and  its  hinterland  from  Bridlington  to  Sandsend  beyond  Whitby.  Remember,  it  was 
winter-time,  and  that  the  cutting  north-easters  on  that  high  and  rock-bound  coast  search 
to  the  very  marrow,  yet  Clowes  and  his  helpers  preached  at  Bridlington  on  the  Quay, 
on  Scarborough  Sands  and  in  the  Castle-Dykes,  in  Whitby  Market-place,  and  on  the 
beach  at  Robin  Hood's  Bay,  as  well  as  in  barns  as  at  Ayton  and  Seamer,  in  school-rooms 
and  houses.  The  mission  was  strengthened  by  the  drafting  in  of  other  labours,  and  the 
result  of  their  joint  toil  laid  the  foundation  of  what  are  now  the  Bridlington,  Filey, 
Scarborough,  and  Whitby  Circuits.  Clowes,  as  we  know,  was  a  man  who  habitually 
expected  great  things  from  God,  yet  he  says:  "When  I  look  at  the  work  in  Yorkshire 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


99 


it  is  amazing  to  me."      Our  amazement  is   called   forth   by  the   sight  of  the  labour 
performed  no  less  than  by  its  results. 

Owing  to  its  position  Bridlington  quite  naturally  had  many  of  the  characteristics  of 
a  Wold  circuit.  These  characteristics  it  still  retains,  with  others  due  to  its  proximity 
to  the  sea.  In  Bridlington  old  town  and  its  offshoot,  Bridlington  Quay,  these  features 
may  be  seen  in  contrast  almost  side  by  side.  If  Bridlington,  with  its  fine  old  Priory 
Church,  reminds  us  of  Driffield,  only  that  it  is  a  little  more  quiet  and  sleepy,  the 
Quay,  only  a  mile  away,  would  rather  suggest  Scarborough  or  Whitby.  This,  in  1820, 
was  an  old-fashioned  sea-port,  and  not  unknown  even  in  those  pre-railway  days  as 
a  modest  watering-place.  At  the  Quay  the  scene  was  often  animated  enough  ;  for 


BHIDLIXGTON   QUAY. 

sometimes  the  noble  bay — bounded  on  the  north  by  the  lighthouse  on  Flamborough  Head 
which  Clowes  visited — would  be  crowded  with  vessels  lying  becalmed,  or  seeking  shelter 
from  rough  or  contrary  winds.  The  residents  of  the  Quay  were  of  the  amphibious  kind 
one  might  expect  to  find  in  such  a  place — a  few  fishermen,  shipowners,  or  those 
concerned  in  the  unloading,  refitting,  or  victualling  of  ships,  with  a  few  visitors  and 
retired  persons  whose  tastes  brought  them  to  the  sea.  Primitive  Methodism  early  got 
a  footing  both  in  Bridlington  and  the  Quay.  Here  lived  Mr.  Stephenson,  an  early 
bcfriender  of  the  cause,  whose  vessel  John  Oxtoby,  when  standing  on  the  pier,  singled 
out  from  a  number  of  others,  though  his  eye  had  never  rested  either  on  the  vessel  or  its 
picture  before.  It  had  been  feared  the  vessel  was  lost,  but  Oxtoby  had  prayed  about  it, 

G  2 


100  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUKCH. 

and  it  had  been  revealed  to  him  that  the  ship  he  now  identified  would  come  safe  to 
port.  The  first  unpretentious  chapel  at  the  Quay  was  built  in  1823.  In  the  bight  of 
Bridlington  Bay  the  sea  has  made  sad  encroachment  on  the  land,  and  in  course  of  time 
the  first  chapel  stood  so  near  the  cliff  that  when  the  north-easters  blew  it  shook  again, 
and  was  wet  with  the  flying  spume  and  spray.  Not  before  time  a  second  chapel  was 
built  on  another  site  in  1870,  still  further  enlarged  in  1879.*  In  the  old  town 
a  building  was  acquired  and  fitted  up  as  a  chapel  capable  of  accommodating  two 
hundred  hearers.  This  was  opened  by  W.  Clowes  and  Atkinson  Smith  in  1836. 

With  the  conspicuous  exception  of  Flamborough,  soon  to  be  referred  to,  the  landward 
villages  of  Bridlington,  like  the  rest  of  the  Wold  villages,  are  agricultural,  inhabited 
chiefly  by  farmers  and  labourers,  and  the  small  tradesmen  and  craftsmen  who  minister 
to  their  simple  wants.  Amongst  these  Primitive  Methodism  made  its  way.  Some  of 
its  converts  were  men  of  strong  individuality,  and  rendered  long  and  effective  service — 
men  like  Jonathan  Goforth,  of  North  Burton,  local  preacher,  natural  philosopher, 
antiquarian,  and  intermeddler  in  all  sorts  of  out-of-the-way  knowledge.  Jonathan 
Goforth  was  of  the  same  craft  as  Thomas  Wood,  of  Driffield.  Writing  in  1821,  William 
Cobbett  says  that  shoemaking  is  "a  trade  which  numbers  more  men  of  sense  and  of 
public  spirit  than  any  other  in  the  kingdom."f  The  fact,  vouched  for  by  Rev.  H. 
Woodcock,  that  at  one  time  there  stood  on  the  two  plans  of  Driffield  and  Bridlington 
Circuits  the  names  of  no  fewer  than  twenty-one  persons  who  followed  this  trade,  speaks 
well  for  the  degree  to  which  Primitive  Methodism  had  got  hold  of  "  the  men  of  sense 
and  public  spirit"  in  the  Wold  country.  Bridlington  Circuit  too,  like  Driffield,  has 
had  its  peasant  stalwarts ;  such  as  Mark  Normandale,  of  Thornholme,  whose  sturdy 
attachment  to  Methodism  was  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Archdeacon  Wilberforce.  Happily, 
Lady  St.  Quintin  had  more  tolerance  than  her  clergyman,  and  declined  to  bring 
pressure  to  bear  upon  her  employe.  Bridlington  Circuit  has  given  to  the  ranks  of  the 
ministry  G.  Normandale,  H.  Woodcock,  the  well-known  writer  and  historian  of  Wold 
Primitive  Methodism,  W.  K.  Monkman,  W.  Hall,  W.  Sawyer,  W.  Mainprize,  and 
T.  R  Holtby. 

Quite  early  Bridlington  had  close  relations  both  with  Driffield  and  Scarborough,  but 
in  the  end  its  natural  connection  with  the  Wolds  prevailed,  and  Flamborough,  Avhere 
the  horn  of  the  crescent  of  the  Wolds  projects  into  the  sea,  became  the  limit  of  the 
circuit.  But  in  1827,  we  find  the  "Bridlington  and  Scarborough  Union  Branch  of 
Hull  Circuit "— "  Bridlington  to  have  the  priority."  In  1833,  Bridlington  and  Driffield 
are  together  a  branch  of  Hull.  In  1843,  it  becomes  a  branch  of  Driffield,  and  in  1859 
an  independent  circuit. 

THE  FLAMBOROUGH  AND  FILEY  FISHERMEN. 
We  have  no  intention  of  writing  the  history  of  Flamborough  or  Filey  Primitive 

•"The  entire  street  in  which  my  mother  was  born,  and  in  which  she  passed  her  early  years 
[at  Bridlington],  has  long  since  been  swallowed  up  by  the  ever-encroaching  sea." — T.  Mozley's 
"  Reminiscences,"  vol.  i.,  p.  148. 

tCobbett's  "  Rural  Rides,"  vol.  i.,  p.  55. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


101 


Methodism.  That  has  already  largely  been  done.*  What  concerns  us  here  is,  the 
significance  of  that  history  as  an  episode  in  the  larger  history  of  our  Church's  advance 
and  mission.  The  capital  fact  demanding  notice  is  that  Hull's  Bridlington  Mission  for 
the  first  time  brought  the  agents  of  our  Church  into  direct,  close,  and  permanent  contact 
with  a  distinct  class — the  fishermen  who  ply  their  hazardous  calling  around  our  coasts. 
With  what  result  ?  We  have  seen  what  the  new  evangelism  did  for  the  folk  of  the 
Yorkshire  Dales  and  Moors ;  did  it  succeed  in  moralising  and  sweetening  the  lives  of 
the  fisher-folk  dwelling  on  the  cliffs  and  in  the  coves  "  between  the  heather  and  the 
northern  sea "  ?  It  made  a  determined  attempt  to  reach  them.  Did  the  attempt 
succeed  ?  Let  us  see. 


FLAM13OKOUGH    HEAD. 


Flamborough,  on  its  bold  head-land  crowned  with  the  well-known  lighthouse,  with 
its  cliffs  and  caves  and  sea-birds,  and  the  famous  entrenchment  of  the  Danes'  Dyke 
running  from  the  North  Sea  to  Bridlington  Bay,  and  cutting  off  the  huge  cantle  of 
land  on  which  the  village  stands,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots  in  England,  and 
its  hardy  inhabitants,  chiefly  fishermen,  are  equally  interesting,  possessing  as  they  do 
many  distinctive  traits.  A  thousand  years  ago  or  so  the  predatory  Danes  took  possession 
of  this  natural  stronghold,  which,  perhaps,  the  Britons  had  dug  out  a  thousand  years 


*  See  especially  "  Our  Filey  Fishermen,"  by  Rev.  G.  Shaw,  1867. 
by  Rev.  C.  Kendall,  1870.     "  Life  of  John  Oxtoby." 


God's  Hand  in  the  Storm," 


102  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

before.  This  stronghold  the  new-comers  fortified  and  continued  to  hold.  They  inter- 
married, and  lived  so  much  a  people  apart,  that  their  home  got  the  name  of  "  Little 
Denmark."  To  this  day,  it  is  said,  the  Flamborians  give  evidence  of  their  Scandinavian 
origin  in  build  and  gait  and  complexion,  as  also  perhaps  in  the  deep  religiousness  of 
their  nature,  which,  largely  if  not  wholly,  purged  from  the  superstition  of  the  past,  made 
them  take  so  kindly  to  Methodism,  that  this  coigne  of  Yorkshire  has  now  become 
one  of  its  strongholds.  From  the  very  first,  Primitive  Methodism  found  ready 
acceptance  in  Flamborough.  W.  Clowes  was  frequently  here,  and  as  early  as  January 
14th,  1821,  he  notes  in  his  Journal : — 

"  I  preached  again  at  Flamborough  at  two  and  six.  It  was  a  very  gracious  day  : 
two  souls  got  liberty.  Fifty  in  society,  and  I  joined  five  more.  Monday,  15th, 
brother  Coulson  preached,  and  I  gave  an  exhortation.  One  soul  got  liberty." 

The  Flamborians  are  now  largely  a  sober,  chapel-going  and  God-fearing  people. 
What  they  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  something  very 
different,  corresponding  rather  to  the  couplet : — 

"  A  wretched  church,  and  a  wooden  steeple, 
A  drunken  parson,  and  a  wicked  people." 

Very  suggestive  in  this  regard  is  the  statement,  made  on  good  authority,  that  it  was  not 
with  the  goodwill  of  many  of  the  people  of  these  parts  that  the  noble  lighthouse  was 
erected.  One  of  the  first  converts  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Flamborough  was 
Leonard  Mainprize.  Considering  what  the  family,  of  which  he  was  the  head,  has  done 
and  is  doing  for  the  interests  of  our  Church  in  Bridlington  Circuit,  the  winning  of 
such  a  man  must  be  reckoned  a  good  day's  work.  One  of  Leonard's  sons  was 
Vicannan  Mainprize,  for  many  years  a  typical  working  fisherman,  who  in  following  his 
calling  had  many  hairbreadth  escapes.  Comparatively  late  in  life  he  became  a  rich  man 
through  the  coming  to  him  of  a  legacy.  The  change  in  his  circumstances  made  no 
difference  to  the  simplicity  of  his  Christian  character,  though  it  greatly  augmented  his 
power  for  doing  good,  and  the  Bridlington  Circuit  reaped  the  benefit  of  his  beneficence. 
Midway  between  Scarborough  and  Whitby  stands  Filey,  fronting  its  noble  bay.  Now 
it  is  widely  known  as  a  beautiful  health-resort,  but  at  the  time  of 
which  we  write,  it  was  little  more  than  a  fishing-village.  One  who 
was  there  in  1823,  speaks  of  its  "one  short  row  of  small  cottages, 
like  a  coast-guard  station,  built  for  visitors  who  did  not  come." 
Hard  as  it  is  for  us  to  realise  it  now,  Filey  was  then  "noted  for 
vice  and  wickedness  of  every  description."  So  says  Mr.  Petty 
in  his  History,  and  all  the  evidence  goes  to  prove  the  truth  of 
the  indictment.  The  Sabbath  was  disregarded ;  if  anything,  the 
Sabbath  was  the  busiest  day  of  all  the  week.  There  was  plenty  of 

superstition,  the  dark  survival  of  Pagan  times,  but  of  real  religion 

MK.  v.  MAINPRIZE.       there  was  ^tt^e  enough.     Methodism  was  struggling  for  existence, 

and  the  influence  of  the  Church  was  almost  a  negative  quantity. 

True,  there  was  an  ancient  fabric— St.  Oswald's — which  stood  on   the   other  side  of 

the  ravine  that  divides  the  North  and  East  Ridings,  but  according  to  the  testimony  of 


THE    PERIOD    OF  CIKCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


103 


the  visitor  already  mentioned,  it  was  "  a  dreary  and  not  quite  weatherproof  building." 
Both  the  situation  and  condition  of  the  parish  church  were  emblematic  of  the  aloofness 
of  the  people  from  the  religion  it  stood  for.  So  far  from  exerting  any  practical  influence 
on  the  lives  of  the  bulk  of  the  fishermen,  it  might  as  well  have  been  in  another  world 
as  in  another  Riding.  "  Like  priest,  like  people,"  says  the  adage,  and  what  both  priest 
and  people  were  like  may  be  judged  by  an  incident  which  took  place  at  the  bedside  of 
a  dying  parishioner,  who  had  asked  that  he  might  receive  the  last  sacrament : — 

"  Parson  (loquitur)  :  '  Do  you  swear  ? '  Sick  man  :  '  No.'  '  Do  you  ever  get 
drunk  ? '  '  No.'  After  other  questions  of  a  similar  kind,  the  parson  asked  :  '  Do 
you  owe  any  debts?'  'No.'  'Well,  then,  you  are  all  right.  But  you  owe  me  my 


FILET. 

From  a  photo  by  Walter  Fisher  and  Sons,  Filey. 

fee  for  your  father's  gravestone,  and  I  cannot  give  you  the  sacrament  until  you 
have  paid  me.'  The  dying  man  settled  with  the  clergyman,  received  absolution, 
and  died  satisfied."  * 

There  is  pathos  about  the  life  of  the  fisherman — an  undertone  of  sadness  like  the 
moaning  of  the  harbour-bar  Charles  Kingsley  speaks  of : — 

"  For  men  must  work,  and  women  must  weep ; 
And  there's  little  to  earn,  and  many  to  keep, 
Though  the  harbour-bar  be  moaning." 

*"  Filey  and  its  Fishermen,"  Thomas  P.  Mozley,  who  was  at  Filey  in  1823  and  1825,  and  in  the 
latter  year  attended  "  The  Fishermen's  Chapel,"  i.e.,  the  Primitive  Methodist  Chapel,  refers  to  this 
clergyman,',"  Reminiscences,"  vol.  i.,  p.  444. 


104  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUKCH. 

That  pathetic  undertone  was  distinctly  to  be  heard  in  Filey  and  many  another 
fishing-village  eighty  years  ago.  You  could  catch  the  sound  of  it  beneath  and  despite 
the  rude  sports,  the  loud  ribald  song,  the  boisterous  merriment.  There  were  the  daily 
toil,  the  hazard  of  storm  and  disaster,  the  anxiety  of  women  waiting  and  watching  at 
home.  The  stones  in  the  old  churchyard  bore  the  silent  record  of  many  such  lowly 
domestic  tragedies.  There  is  a  passage  in  one  of  Mary  Linsk ell's  books  as  true  of  Filey 
and  Flamborough  as  of  more  northern  Robin  Hood's  Bay  or  Staithes  : — 

"The  two  women  with  whom  Genevieve  had  come  down  from  Thurkeld  Abbas 
were  the  daughters  of  a  drowned  man,  the  widows  of  drowned  men,  the  sisters  of 
drowned  men.  All  they  possessed — the  means  of  life  itself — had  come  to  them 
from  the  sea ;  the  self-same  sea  had  taken  from  them  all  that  made  life  worth 
living."* 

Such  was  Filey,  and  such,  thank  God  !  it  soon  ceased  to  be.  It  needed  vital  religion 
to  moralise  the  people.  The  men  needed  it  to  give  them  strength  to  cope  with  the 
storm  and  the  imminent  danger.  The  women — bread-winners,  too — needed  it  to  help 
them  to  bear  the  strain  of  anxiety,  and  to  comfort  them  in  the  time  of  their  desolation. 
And  vital  religion  came.  How  and  with  what  results  we  must  briefly  tell. 

Filey  was  not  so  easily  won  as  Flamborough  and  other  places  along  the  coast.  It 
was  tried  again  and  again,  but  the  stolid  indifference  of  the  people  seemed  impenetrable. 
But  for  John  Oxtoby,  Filey  might  have  been  left  to  its  fate.  The  tradition  is,  that 
when  the  question  of  continuance  or  discontinuance  was  under  serious  discussion  at  the 
Bridlington  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Stephenson,  Oxtoby,  who  had 
kept  silent  hitherto,  was  appealed  to,  and  unhesitatingly  gave  his  judgment  in  favour  of 
prosecuting  the  mission.  Abandon  Filey  ?  It  was  not  to  be  thought  of  for  a  moment. 
God  had  a  great  work  to  do  in  Filey ;  and  Oxtoby  declared  himself  ready  to  engage  in 
that  work,  whatever  privations  it  might  involve.  This  ended  the  discussion,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  give  Filey  one  more  trial.  Oxtoby  had  got  as  far  as  Muston  Hill,  on  his 
way  to  attempt  what  many  regarded  as  a  forlorn  hope,  when  the  sight  of  Filey  in  the 
distance  drove  him  to  his  knees.  His  audible  petitions  were  not  only  intensely  earnest, 
but  so  familiar  as  almost  to  suggest  irreverence,  did  we  not  know  the  man  and  the 
essential  reverence  as  well  as  intimacy  of  his  intercourse  with  God.  He — John  Oxtoby — 
had  given  a  pledge  that  "  God  was  going  to  revive  His  work  at  Filey,"  and  He  must  do 
it,  or  His  servant  would  not  be  able  to  hold  up  his  head.  He  put  God  on  His  honour  ; 
He  would  not  allow  His  servant  to  be  discredited:  "That  be  far  from  Thee,  Lord." 
He  received  the  assurance  that  God  would  verily  keep  His  word,  and  rose  from  his 
knees,  saying:  "Filey  is  taken  !  Filey  is  taken  !"  To  the  foresight  of  faith,  the  work 
not  yet  begun  was  already  accomplished.  Oxtoby,  on  Muston  Hill,  pleading  for  Filey, 
recalls  William  Braithwaite's  wrestling  for  souls  at  East  Stockwith,f  and  both  incidents 
have  their  counterpart  in  John  Eide's  and  Thomas  Russell's  victorious  conflict  on 
Ashdown  for  the  salvation  of  Berkshire.  They  make  companion  pictures.  "  Give  me 
souls,  or  I  shall  die ; "  "  Filey  is  taken  ! "  "  Yonder  country  's  ours  ! "  are  only  short 

*  "  Between  the  Heather  and  the  Northern  Sea,"  p.  77. 
t  Ante,  vol.  L,  pp.  369  and  419. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


105 


sentences,  and  easily  rememberable ;  but  they  are,  in  their  way,  as  significant  for 
Primitive  Methodist  history  as  some  of  the  sayings  of  great  captains,  like  Nelson,  are 
significant  for  English  history. 

Filey  was  taken.  The  remarkable  revival  of  1823  was  morally  revolutionary  and 
lasting  in  its  results.  It  laid  the  foundations  of  a  strong  cause  in  Filey,  and  before  the 
year  ended  a  chapel  was  built,  which,  after  two  enlargements,  was  in  1871  superseded  by 

a  handsome  and  commodious 
edifice.  The  Wesleyan  Society 
shared  in  the  labours  and  success 
of  the  revival,  and  was  much 
quickened  and  largely  aug- 
mented, and  even  the  parish 
church  began  to  look  up  and 
to  be  better  attended.  The 
morals  of  the  village  rapidly 
improved.  Keligion  wrought 
for  sobriety,  thrift,  softening 
of  manners,  social  peace,  and 
domestic  concord.  It  was  Filey 
fishermen  who  led  the  way  in 
abandoning  Sunday  fishing.  At 
first  the  innovators  were  a  small 
minority,  and  met  with  the 
usual  difficulties  experienced  by 
reformers.  Even  if  they  had 
been  losers  by  their  Sabbath 
observance,  the  obligation  to 
keep  the  Sabbath  would  have 
been  the  same  ;  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  were  not  losers, 
but  caught  more  lasts  of  herrings 
in  six  days  than  others  did  in 
seven ;  until  even  the  small 
fisher-lads  would  observe  :  "  If  there  were  twea  (two)  herrings  in  the  sea  Kanter  Jack 
would  be  seaar  to  git  yan  (one)  on  them."  The  good  example,  honoured  by  Providence, 
was  infectious.  Gradually  other  skippers  and  owners  fell  into  line  with  the  reformers, 
until  Sabbath  observance  became  the  rule.  In  short,  compared  with  what  it  had  been, 
Filey  became  a  model  fishing-town,  so  that  in  1863  the  Rev.  Edwin  Day,  Wesleyan 
minister,  could  declare  :  "  He  hail  considerable  knowledge  of  the  fishermen  on  many 
parts  of  our  coast,  but  he  knew  none  equal  to  the  Filey  fishermen,  and  he  declared, 
with  the  greatest  freedom,  that  their  superiority  was  entirely  owing  to  the  successful 
labours  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion." 

All  the  credit — if  any  credit  at  all  belongs  to  the  human  agents — must  not  be  given 
to  J.  Oxtoby  for  the  remarkable  revival  of  1823.     Not  forgetting  the  pioneer  labours  of 


FILEY    CHAPEL. 


106  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

J.  Coulson,  we  find  that  J.  Peart,  B.  Morris,  W.  Howcroft,  and  W.  Garner,  all  took 
part  in  it,  and  it  was  under  a  sermon,  preached  by  J.  Peart,  that  the  revival  may  be 
said  to  have  begun.  But  even  if  we  could  have  wished  it  otherwise,  the  rustic 
evangelist,  whose  prayers  and  homely  exhortations  were  couched  in  the  broad  East- 
Riding  dialect,  is  the  chief  outstanding  figure.  Tradition  persists  in  associating  Oxtoby's 
name  with  the  revival  as  its  main  instrument ;  and  those  who  have  closely  studied  the 
history  of  Filey  Primitive  Methodism,  and  are  best  acquainted  with  the  spirit  and 
prominent  features  of  its  Church-life,  are  the  readiest  to  admit  that,  in  this  instance, 
tradition  has  not  erred ;  that  Oxtoby's  influence  was  not  only  great  and  formative  at  the 
time,  but  also  procreative  of  its  like,  shaping  the  lives  of  those  who  were  to  become,  in 
their  turn,  the  shapers  and  directors  of  the  society  and  circuit.  We  may  here,  with 
advantage,  adduce  the  testimony  of  the  Rev.  R.  Harrison  : — 

"Primitive  Methodism  is  very  much  what  it  is  in  Filey  through  the  prayers  and 
faith  of  'Praying  Johnny.'  Those  who  have  thought  much  respecting  the  history, 
methods,  and  spirit  of  our  Church  in  Filey,  see  to  what  extent  he  has  been,  and  is 
reflected  and  reproduced.  It  has  always  been  marked  by  Christian  simplicity, 
strong  faith,  and  direct,  earnest  prayer.  It  would  be  under  rather  than  over  the 
mark  to  say  that  as  many  souls  have  been  saved  in  the  class  meetings  as  after  the 
preaching  services.  There  has  always  been  a  strange  social  element  in  the  Church- 
life  of  Filey,  and  a  marked  domesticity  in  its  devotions." 

Foremost  among  the  converts  of  Oxtoby,  who  became  the  originators  and  shapers  of 
the  society,  may  be  named  Mrs.  Gordon,  John  Wyville,  and  William  Jenkinson.  The 
first-named  was  the  wife  of  a  coastguard  officer,  a  woman  of  education,  who  had  travelled 
and  seen  the  world,  and  was  ready  to  be  led  into  the  light  and  repose  of  faith  by 
Oxtoby.  Mrs.  Gordon  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  useful  women  Primitive 
Methodism  has  produced,  nor  must  the  fame  she  afterwards  acquired  as  "  the  Queen  of 
Missionary  Collectors,"  and  the  work  she  did  in  London,  be  allowed  to  obscure  her 
claim  to  have  been  one  of  the  nursing  mothers  of  our  cause  in  Filey.  She,  in  her  turn, 
was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  Ann  Cowling,  afterwards  Mrs.  Jenkinson,  who 
became  second  only  to  herself  as  a  missionary  collector,  and,  as  such,  excited  the 
wonder  of  W.  Clowes  as  to  how  she  contrived  to  raise  so  much  money,  until  he  learned 
that  there  was  an  agreement  between  the  fishermen  and  herself  that  they  should  give 
her  for  the  missionary  cause  a  certain  percentage  on  all  the  fish  they  caught  above 
a  certain  quantity,  on  condition  that  she  prayed  for  them  while  they  were  fishing. 

John  Wyville,  who  survived  until  1866,  was  another  of  the  "old  standards"  of 
Filey.  He  never  forgot  John  Oxtoby's  placing  his  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  saying : 
"  Thou  must  get  converted,  for  the  Lord  has  a  great  work  for  thee  to  do."  The  saying 
was  prophetic  and  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  He  soon  after  joined  the  society,  attended  to 
reading  and  the  cultivation  of  his  mind,  and  became  a  laborious  and  efficient  local 
preacher.  William  Jenkinson  (obit.  1866)  was  yet  a  third  convert  of  Oxtoby's,  who 
lived  to  see  one  hundred  of  his  relatives  members  of  society. 

The  godly  succession  has  been  kept  up  by  such  men  as  the  brothers  Jenkinson  and 
Matthew  Haxby,  whose  portraits  appropriately  have  a  place  in  our  pages.  Their 
evangelistic  labours  as  "  the  Filey  Fishermen  "  have  made  them  widely  known,  but  how 


THE    PEKIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE  AND   ENTERPRISE.  107 

much  good  they  have  exerted  by  their  example  and  leadership  and  personal  influence 
cannot  be  told  here.  Jenkinson  Haxby  happily  still  survives,  and  was  honoured  in 
1902  by  being  made  a  permanent  member  of  Conference. 

In  closing  our  observations  on  the  Flamborough  and  Filey 
fishermen,  we  are  again  reminded  of  the  toils,  anxieties,  and 
hazards  of  the  fisherman's  life.  We  still  hear  the  sad  undertone, 
as  of  the  moaning  of  the  harbour-bar.  The  biographies  in  our 
Magazines,  through  a  succession  of  years,  show  how  many  of  our 
adherents  have  been  engulphed  by  the  sea  from  which  they 
sought  their  livelihood.  It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  religion, 
as  presented  by  our  Church,  makes  the  fisherman  none  the  less 
hardy,  brave,  self-sacrificing.  In  the  terrible  storm  of  October, 
1869,  Richard  Haxby,  sen.,  said  to  his  crew  :  "  Now,  some  of  you 
x  HAXBT.  naye  a  wife  and  young  children  dependent  upon  you ;  I  have 
a  wife  that  I  well  prize,  but  no  young  children,  therefore,  you  should  seek  every 
precaution  to  shun  risk  and  escape  death.  Besides,  you  are  not  ready  for  another 
world  ;  Frank  and  I  are  insured  for  eternal  life ;  therefore,  lash  us  to  the  tiller,  and  you 
(jo  belon-  ir/ii-re  there  is  less  danger."*  This  is  no  solitary  instance.  In  that  same 
storm  Matthew  Haxby,  referred  to  above,  caused  himself  to  be  lashed  to  the  tiller,  and 
steered  the  vessel  during  most  of  the  seventy  hours,  for  said  he  :  "  If  a  wave  comes  and 
washes  me  overboard,  I  am  all  right.  I  shall  go  straight  to  heaven,  where  there  is  no 
more  sea." 

Religion,  in  the  form  of  Primitive  Methodism,  suits  the  fisherman  well,  and  the 
fisherman  at  his  best  has  done  Primitive  Methodism  infinite  credit.  That,  we  trust,  is 
what  this  History  shows ;  for  after  all,  while  for  obvious  reasons  we  have  spoken  much 
of  Filey,  it  is  taken  as  a  type  and  object-lesson.  While  writing  of  Filey  and  Flam- 
borough,  we  have  found  our  thoughts  turning  to  Scarborough  and  Staithes,  to 
Cullercoats,  and  to  fishing-towns  and  villages  in  East  Anglia  and  Cornwall,  and 
elsewhere,  where  our  Church  has  done  a  similar  work,  in  kind 
if  not  in  degree,  amongst  the  fishermen  as  it  has  achieved  at 
Flamborough  and  Filey. 

SCARBOROUGH  AND  WHITBY  MISSION. 

"On  Saturday,  January  27th,  1821,  by  an  unexpected  provi- 
dence, my  way  was  opened  to  preach  at  Scarborough."  So  stands 
the  record  in  the  Magazine.  How  providence  opened  Clowes' 
way  we  are  not  distinctly  told.  Possibly  he  may  have  had  an 
invitation  to  visit  the  town,  backed  by  the  offer  of  the  use  of 
Mr.  Lamb's  schoolroom.  Be  this  as  it  may,  on  the  date  mentioned,  MR.  MATTHEW  HAXBT. 
Clowes,  accompanied  by  his  friend  Coulson,  walked  to  Scarborough,  By  permission  of  w.  Fisher 
and  found  on  his  arrival  a  few  persons  whose  minds,  stirred  by 

a  ripple  of  excitement,  were  already  in  a  state  of  expectancy.     Some  one  had  dreamed 
the  night  before  that  he  saw  two  "Ranters'  preachers"  going  up  the  streets  of  Scar- 

*  "God's  Hand  in  the  Storm,"  p.  30. 


108 


PRIMITIVE   MKTHODIST   CHURCH. 


borough  with  an  intention  to  preach  the  gospel.  The  dream  would  naturally  help  on 
its  own  fulfilment,  and  Mr.  Clowes  preached  in  the  schoolroom  and  Mr.  Coulson 
elsewhere.  Three  full  Sundays  out  of  the  six  yet  available  for  this  mission  were, 
devoted  by  Clowes  to  Scarborough,  and  two  to  Whitby,  while  the  remaining  Sunday 
was  divided  between  Scarborough  and  Seamer.  At  Scarborough,  his  practice  was  to 
preach  twice  in  the  schoolroom  and  once  on  the  sands,  and  he  notes  with  satisfaction 
that  the  people  who  came  to  the  seaside  services  in  such  multitudes,  behaved  with 
decorum  and  listened  attentively  to  the  Word.  The  first  society  class  in  Scarborough 
was  formed  by  Clowes  on  February  llth,  and  before  he  returned  to  Hull,  by  way  of 

Flamborough  and  Bridlington,  in  order  to  attend 
the  March  Quarterly  Meeting,  the  nine  members 
had  been  increased  by  later  converts. 

From  Scarborough  Clowes  pushed  011  for 
Whitby,  but  as  he  passed  through  Robin 
Hood's  Bay,  the  fishermen  "got  wit"  that 
a  "Ranter  preacher"  was  amongst  them,  and 
Clowes  was  fain  to  preach  in  three  houses 
opening  into  one  another.  This  plural  place 
of  assembly  was  packed  with  people.  When, 
soon  after,  Clowes  paid  a  return  visit  to  Robin 
Hood's  Bay,  and  held  a  service  by  preference 
on  the  beach,  he  was  assisted  by  J.  Branfoot, 
and  had  as  one  of  his  hearers  William  Harland, 
the  young  schoolmaster  of  Staintou  Dale,  who 
then  and  there  resolved  to  lead  a  Christian 
life.  At  Whitby,  Clowes  followed  the  same 
method  of  procedure  as  at  Scarborough.  Both 
on  the  llth  and  18th  of  February,  one  of  the 
services  of  the  day  was  held  in  the  market-place. 
At  the  first  some  unruly  spirits  were  present 
disposed  for  mischief,  but  "  a  man  of  weight, 
for  duty  done  and  public  worth,"  was  on  the 
ground  in  the  person  of  the  Chief  Constable, 
and  his  presence  exerted  a  restraining  influence. 
The  man  of  authority  had  met  with  Clowes 
when  conveying  prisoners  to  York,  and  had  listened  to  his  preaching  in  the  open- 
air.  He  had  then  assured  Clowes  of  a  hospitable  reception,  should  he  ever  find  his 
way  to  Whitby.  To  his  honour,  be  it  said,  the  Chief  Constable  made  good  his  word. 
Fryup  in  the  Dale,  Lyth,  Sandsend,  besides  Ayton  and  Seamer,  were  also  visited 
by  Clowes  during  his  mission. 

The  mention  of  Rev.  W.  Harland's  name  above,  may  remind  us  that  in  the  persons  of 
John  and  Thomas  Nelson — who  are  said  to  have  come  from  a  village  near  Whitby, — of 
Henry  Hebbron  and  of  William  Harland,  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire  gave  Primitive 
Methodism  four  men  who,  in  their  day,  were  extraordinarily  useful  and  popular.  Had 


WHITLY   TOWN   HALL. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND   ENTERPRISE. 


109 


REV.  W.   HARI.AND. 


the  Huttou  Ruclby  and  East  Coast  Missions  together  done  nothing  more  than  send  forth 
these  early  workers,  it  would  have  yielded  an  abundant  return  for  the  toil  and  self- 
sacrifice  involved  in  prosecuting  the  missions ;  since  in  the  formative  period  of  the 
Connexion— just  when  it  was  ready  to  take  the  shaping  and  impress  of  strongly  marked 
personalities,  these  men  gave  their  zeal  and  strength,  their  wit  and 
humour  and  popular  gifts  to  the  work. 

Mr.  Hebbron  and  the  Nelson  brothers  we  shall  meet  again  in  the 
Sunderland  District;  but  a  further  word  may  be  permitted  in 
reference  to  William  Harland  who,  with  William  Garner,  William 
Sanderson,  and  George  Lamb,  lived  to  be  reckoned  one  of  Hull 
District's  "  grand  old  men."  William  Harland  was  a  native  of 
Newton  near  Pickering,  and  was  born  in  1801.  He  was  educated 
for  a  schoolmaster,  and  hence,  from  a  scholastic  point  of  view,  was 
privileged  beyond  most  of  his  brethren.  Those  who  came  in 
contact  with  him  were  impressed  with  his  amiability  no  less  than 
with  his  intelligence.  On  a  subsequent  visit  to  these  parts, 
Mr.  Clowes  had  some  conversation  with  the  young  schoolmaster,  who  set  him  on  his 
way  to  Cloughton  after  preaching  at  Stainton-Dale,  and  found  him  to  be  "  a  young  man 
of  considerable  information  and  kindness  of  disposition,  and  capable  of  doing  much 
good  in  his  day  and  generation."  Yet  Mr.  Harland  did  not  for  some  time  identify  him- 
self with  the  new  movement,  though  he  lent  his  schoolroom  for  preaching  services  and 
duly  attended  them.  At  last,  however,  he  made  up  his  mind.  Mr.  W.  Howcroft  had 
given  an  invitation  to  all  who  desired  to  become  members  to  remain  after  the  service 
and  he  would  give  them  a  ticket  on  trial ;  whereupon  Mr.  Harland  stepped  up  to  his 
own  desk  and  asked  if  the  preacher  would  give  him  a  ticket  on  trial.  "  No  ;  I  won't"  ; 
said  Mr.  Howcroft,  "  but  I  will  give  you  one  as  an  approved 
member."  Mr.  Harland  preached  his  first  sermon  at  the  opening 
of  Newton  chapel,  which  was  a  converted  cart-shed,  and  he  lived 
to  preach  the  opening  services  of  the  chapel  subsequently  erected 
in  1850.  At  the  Hull  Quarterly  Meeting,  September  1838,  Bro. 
J.  Harrison  was  appointed  "  to  consult  him  respecting  his  willing- 
ness to  enter  our  ministry."  Mr.  Harland  ivas  willing,  and  for 
forty-three  years  he  rendered  good  service  on  the  platform, 
where  he  was  at  his  best,  and  in  the  pulpit.  He  was  elected 
President  of  the  Conference  of  1862,  and  filled  the  editorial 
chair  from  1850  to  1862.  He  was  made  a  deed-poll  member  in 
1870,  and  retained  that  office  till  1879,  when  growing  physical 
infirmities  compelled  him  to  resign.  Mr.  Harland  died  October 
10th,  1880. 

No  agent  better  suited  for  carrying  forward  the  work  already  begun  could  have  been 
found  than  N.  West,  who  was  now  borrowed  from  Malton  for  a  month.  He  made  his 
way  to  Whitby,  where,  on  the  25th  March,  he  preached  twice  in  the  market-place  and 
once  in  a  house,  and  next  day  formed  the  new  converts,  numbering  fifty- five,  into  three 
classes.  At  Robin  Hood's  Bay  there  were,  he  notes,  already  twenty-eight  in  society. 


WM.  HOWCKOFT. 


HO  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

Two  Sundays  N.  West  laboured  at  Scarborough.  On  April  1st,  he  "stood  up"  at  the 
Castle  Dykes  and  preached  to  a  large  congregation,  made  up  of  all  sorts  of  people — 
"quality,  poor,  soldiers,  sailors,"  &c.  "At  half-past  five,"  says  he,  "I  stood  up  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  again ;  but  was  much  disturbed  by  Satan,  who  opposed  very  much  by 
his  slavish  vassals ;  however,  through  God  we  got  through,  and  at  night  held  a  prayer 
meeting.  After  all,  we  were  more  than  conquerors  through  Jesus,  for  fifteen  fresh 
members  joined."  On  the  following  Sunday  he  preached  twice  on  the  sands.  In  the 
morning,  many  were  observed  to  weep  who  had  despised  religion  before,  and  at  the 
afternoon  service  there  were  supposed  to  have  been  no  less  than  three  thousand  present 
who  "  paid  great  attention." 

Nathaniel  West  went  back  to  Malton,  and  R.  Abey  came  on  the  ground.  In  his 
Journal  he  notes  the  opening  of  the  first  chapel  in  Scarborough,  May  13th,  1821. 
This  home-made  structure  was  designed  and  built  by  brother  Luccock.  and  stood  on  the 
site  of  an  ancient  Franciscan  Convent  in  St.  Sepulchre  Street.  A  Sabbath  school 
being  urgently  needed,  the  western  wing  of  the  building  was  appropriated  to  the 
purpose.  To  save  expense,  the  work  was  done  by  amateurs.  George  Tyas  laid  the 
bricks  for  the  partition  wall,  and  James  and  William  Wyrill  fixed  the  doors  and 
window-frames.  These  two  brothers  became  the  first  superintendents  of  the  school, 
and  James  Linn  became  its  first  scholar.  A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  name 
of  James  Wyrill.  In  the  terrible  storm  of  February  24th,  1844,  the  yawl  he  com- 
manded was  struck  by  a  heavy  sea  when  making  for  the  harbour,  and  went  down  with 
all  hands  in  sight  of  the  multitude  lining  the  pier  and  foreshore.  James  Wy rill's  body 
was  recovered  after  being  in  the  sea  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  days.  This  sad 
incident  is  recalled  to  show,  that  ever  since  Clowes  and  Nathaniel  West  numbered 
fishermen  among  their  auditors,  our  Church  in  Scarborough  has  succeeded  in  attaching 
some  of  those  who  live  by  the  fishing  industry  of  the  town  to  its  fellowship,  and  has 
found  among  them  some  of  its  most  earnest  workers.  In  this  connection  the  names  of 
Sellars  and  Appleby  should  not  be  omitted. 

R.  Abey,  who  opened  the  first  chapel,  tells  us  that  during  his  eleven  weeks'  term  of 
service  on  the  Scarborough  Mission  he  saw  one  hundred  and  ten  added  to  the  societies. 
Then,  according  to  the  arrangement  made  at  the  first  Conference,  he  and  Thomas 
Sugden  were  to  be  transferred  to  the  Tunstall  District,  while  S.  Turner  and  J.  Garner 
were  to  be  drafted  to  fill  their  place  in  the  Hull  District.  When  Abey  took  his 
departure,  a  number  of  the  Scarborough  friends  accompanied  him  a  couple  of  miles  on 
his  way,  and  then  by  prayer  commended  him  to  the  grace  of  God.  R.  Abey,  having 
travelled  eight  years  with  acceptance,  settled  down  on  a  small  farm  at  Snainton,  and 
continued  a  useful  local  preacher.  Bridlington  and  Scarborough  (with  Whitby)  were 
now  in  June,  1821,  made  the  heads  of  distinct  branches,  and  John  Garner  was 
appointed  to  the  former  and  S.  Turner  to  the  latter,  the  two  young  men  walking  from 
Hull  to  take  up  their  respective  charges.  By  September  it  was  reported  that  the  work 
was  going  steadily  on  in  the  Bridlington  Branch,  and  that  it  had  three  preachers  and 
390  members.  Scarborough,  too,  must  have  made  some  progress,  since  in  1823,  it  was 
made  a  separate  circuit.  Such,  however,  it  remained  only  for  one  year.  When,  in 
1824,  Whitby  was  taken  from  it  to  form  a  new  circuit,  the  membership  of  Scarborough 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


Ill 


Circuit  was  reduced  to  160,  and  it  became  once  more  a  branch  of  Hull,  and  as  such  it 
remained,  either  conjointly  with  Bridlington  or  separately,  until  finally,  in  1852,  it 
became  a  circuit  with  654  members.  Apart  from  Scarborough's  claim  to  be  the  queen 
of  watering-places,  there  are  other  considerations,  which  make  all  that  relates  to  the 
beginning  and  development  of  our  Church  in  the  ancient  borough  of  some  interest  to 
Primitive  Methodists.  To  name  but  two  of  such  considerations :  Scarborough  is,  next 
to  Hull,  the  largest  town  in  the  Hull  District,  and  it  is  a  recognised  popular  Conference 
town :  sure  sign  that  the  denomination  has,  like  Grimsby — with  which  it  has  many 
points  of  affinity — attained  to  considerable  strength  and  influence.  The  history  of 
Scarborough  Primitive  Methodism  has  had  its  two  dispensations — the  old  and  the 
new — rather  sharply  marked  off  from  each  other.  The  contrast  between  the  Scarborough 
of  1820,  with  its  primitive  Spa,  and  the  Scarborough  of  the  present  day,  with  its 


OLD   SCARBOROUGH,    1820. 

magnificent  Spa  Saloon  and  all  else  that  is  the  outgrowth  of  recent  years,  is  great 
indeed,  as  our  illustrations  show.  But  the  contrast  between  the  Primitive  Methodism 
of  the  old  epoch  and  the  new  in  Scarborough  is  scarcely  less  noteworthy ;  and  yet  how 
comparatively  recent  these  more  impressive  developments  have  been !  It  is  with 
a  feeling  of  surprise  we  realise  that,  as  late  as  1860,  the  only  chapel  the  denomination 
could  show  in  Scarborough  was  the  one  standing  on  the  original  site  in  St.  Sepulchre 
Street.  True,  the  building  had  been  enlarged  in  1839  to  hold  seven  hundred  hearers, 
but  still,  we  who  worshipped  there  can  recall  now  how  the  lengthening  shadows  of  the 
old  dispensation  rested  upon  the  building.  Good  work  was  done  in  the  old  sanctuary. 
There  were  worthy  men — men  of  intelligence  and  character,  and  of  Connexional  loyalty — 


112 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


men  like  Messrs.  Boreman,  Fenby,  Linn,  Sellars,  Appleby,  and  especially  John  Yule, 
shrewd,  quaint,  who  knew  both  the  outside  and  inside  of  books  almost  as  well  as  he 
knew  men.  There  were  seasons  of  revival,  and  much  enthusiasm  and  success  in  the 
raising  of  missionary  money,  but  for  all  that,  one  can  see  now  that,  until  the  building 
of  Jubilee  Chapel  in  1861,  the  good  old  dispensation  reigned.  This  enterprise  was 
a  turning-point  and  new  departure,  and,  historically,  rightly  belongs  to  the  chapel- 
building  era,  that  seems  to  have  been  inaugurated  by  the  erection  in  Hull  of  Jarratt 
Street  Chapel.  There  were  those  of  the  old  dispensation,  however,  in  Scarborough  as 
there  were  in  Hull,  who  did  not  understand  or  sympathise  with  the  new  movement 
then  having  its  beginning.  Men  shook  their  heads  and  prophesied  disaster,  but, 


SCARBOKOUGH,    PRESENT  DAT. 

happily,  lived  long  enough  to  see  their  lugubrious  predictions  falsified.*    The  vis  inertia; 

*  If  any  proof  is  needed  of  the  statement  here  made,  it  will  be  found  in  a  letter  of  warning  and 
remonstrance  written  to  the  superintendent  at  the  time  by  Eev.  J.  Flesher  then  resident  in  the 
town.  That  letter  is  printed  in  the  memoir  of  C.  Kendall,  Magazine,  1882,  and  remains  to  show 
how  even  the  great  and  good  may  have  their  limitations  of  view.  This  reference  is  due  to  the 
dead,  and  would,  one  cannot  but  think,  be  approved  by  them;  for  Mr.  Flesher  closes  his  letter 
which  had  to  be  read  to  the  "  go-a-heads "  with  the  words :  "  I  keep  a  rough  draft  of  these  views 
for  future  reference,  and  should  unexpected  facts  prove  them  to  be  ill-founded,  I  shall,  if  alive, 
rejoice  that  the  superior  prudence  and  zeal  of  these  brethren  who  think  and  act  differently  from 
me,  have  been  crowned  with  complete  success." 


THE    PEU10D    OF    CIECUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


113 


to  be  overcome  was  so  great,  that  the  superintendent,  who  had  gone  some  way  in 
pushing  on  the  project  for  the  new  chapel,  resolved  to  leave  the  circuit  and  let  some 
one  else  come  to  it  who  could  hring  the  undertaking  to  a  successful  issue,  and  then 
enjoy  the  fruition  of  the  work.  He  exchanged  circuits  Avith  Hugh  Campbell,  whom 


W.    BOBEMAN. 


J.    SEI.LAES. 


REV.  H.,  CAMFBELL; 


W.    APl'LEBT. 


we  may  justly  regard  as  one  of  the  great  chapel-builders  of  the  Hull  District,  since 
sixteen  chapels  and  two  unfinished  ones,  besides  schools  at  Louth  and  ministers'  houses 
at  Scotter,  stand  to  his  credit.  Mr.  Campbell  came  fresh  from  building  Victoria  Street 
Chapel,  Griinsby,  but,  unfortunately,  he  lost  his  life  as  the  result  of  a  street-accident 


114 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


before  the  Aberdeen  Walk  Chapel  was  opened  in  1861.  Another  notable  advance  was 
marked,  combining  all  that  was  best  both  in  the  old  and  new,  when  a  new  chapel, 
handsome  and  commodious,  was  built  in  1866  in  St.  Sepulchre  Street,  under  the 
superintendency  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Whitehead.  Since  then,  as  our  own  view  of 
Scarborough  chapels  shows,  still  further  chapel  extension  has  taken  place  in  the 
borough.  For  Scarborough  the  chapel-building  era  has  done  great  things,  as  it  has 
done  also  for  Grimsby. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  115 


CHAPTER    XVI. 
THE   MAKING   OF   SUNDERLAND   DISTRICT. 

HOUGH  we  begin  a  fresh  chapter,  it  is  but  to  resume  the  narrative  of 
Hull  Circuit's  missionary  efforts  at  the  precise  point  the  two  preceding 
chapters  left  it.  These  further  advances,  both  in  a  westerly  and  northerly 
direction,  resulted  in  the  formation,  in  1824,  of  a  new  district  made  up  of 
those  branches  that  were  deemed  sufficiently  strong  to  stand  alone.  These  new  intakes 
from  the  outlying  field  of  the  world  were  called  the  Sunderland  District,  because  the 
largest  and  strongest  circuits  of  the  district  were  found  along  the  lower  reaches  of  the 
Tyne  and  the  AVear,  and  were  the  outcome  of  the  Northern  Mission.  But  it  is  observable 
that  in  the  Sunderland  District,  as  originally  constituted,  the  Silsden  and  Keighley 
Circuits  also  have  a  place,  the  reason  being  that,  besides  its  Northern  Mission,  Hull 
Circuit  had  also  a  mission  in  the  West  Riding  beyond  Leeds,  among  "  Craven  hills  and 
Airedale  streams,"  and  Silsden  and  Keighley,  the  first-fruits  of  this  line  of  evangelisation, 
were  incorporated  with  the  newly-made  Sunderland  District.  This  Western  or  Craven 
mission  had  extensions  into  Lancashire,  even  as  far  as  the  Ribble,  and  the  fact  that 
Preston,  Blackburn  and  Clitheroe  stand  on  the  stations  of  1824,  shows  that  this 
evangelistic  movement  did  not  spend  its  force  this  side  the  Pennine  range.  For  the 
time  being  these  Lancashire  circuits  are  attached  to  Tunstall  District,  but  they  will 
naturally  fall  to  Manchester  District  when  that  is  formed  in  1827.  Nor  is  this  all; 
while  moving  west  and  north,  Hull  Circuit  was  also  at  the  same  time,  with  Darlington 
and  Barnard  Castle  Branches  as  a  convenient  base,  pushing  on  vigorously  in  the  north- 
west, and  by  1824,  Hexham  and -Carlisle  were  fit  for  self-government,  and  accordingly 
have  their  place  among  the  stations  of  the  Sunderland  District.  Looking  at  their 
result,  we  may  regard  these  three  lines  of  evangelisation  as  parts  of  one  movement. 
We  have  Sunderland  District  in  the  making. 

HULL'S  WESTERN  MISSION  :  SILSDEN  IN  CRAVEN,  AND  KEIGHLEY. 
Primitive  Methodism  went  into  Craven,  to  Darlington,  to  Newcastle,  to  North 
Shields,  just  as  it  had  gone  to  Hull  and  Leeds — by  invitation.  In  each  case,  before  he 
went,  the  missionary  had  heard  the  cry — "  Come  over  and  help  us."  But  the  cry  came 
not  from  those  who  wanted  saving  but  from  those  who  wanted  to  save,  and  had  their  own 
ideas  as  to  how  the  salvation  could  best  be  brought  about.  One  anticipatory  observation 
we  cannot  forbear  making  once  for  all :  it  is  remarkable  how  in  almost  every  successive 
district  into  which  Primitive  Methodism  came,  there  was  the  repetition  on  a  small 
scale  of  what  had  taken  place  in  Staffordshire  at  the  beginning  of  its  history.  The  fact 
points  to  the  prevalence  of  similar  conditions  of  church-life — to  conflicting  ideals  of 
Christian  worship,  duty  and  service.  To  some  in  the  same  church  "  revivalism  "  was 

H  2 


116 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


not  wanted  any  more  than  fire  or  fever ;  while  to  others  it  was  the  thing  above  all 
others  they  wished  to  see.  Differences  which  have  disappeared,  or  if  they  have  not, 
no  longer  serve  to  divide  men,  then  seemed  formidable  and  unadj  ustable.  These 
differences  were  not  lessened  by  the  fact  that  what  one  class  regarded  as  innovations  in 
practice,  the  other  class  claimed  to  be  "according  to  Wesley  " — original  and  "primitive." 
So  brethren  did  not  quite  see  eye  to  eye,  and  got  to  be  at  cross-purposes.  These  differences 
ever  along  tended  to  differentiate  themselves  so  as  to  become  cognisant  to  sense,  and  it 
has  taken  three-quarters  of  a  century  to  disentangle  these  differences  and  to  bring  the 
estranged  brethren  together  again.  Reflections  such  as  these  will  be  obvious  enough  as 
we  follow  the  narrative  through  this  new  chapter. 

Silsden,   in  Craven,  whence  came  one  of  these  Macedonian  cries,   was,   in   1821, 


KKV.  JOHN  FLESHKK'S  HOME,  SILSDEN. 

a  village  of  some  1300  inhabitants,  who  were  chiefly  engaged  in  nail-making  and  wool- 
combing.  As  to  higher  matters,  the  place,  we  are  told,  was  notorious  for  "ignorance, 
rudeness  and  crime."  And  yet,  it  hardly  should  have  rested  under  such  a  stigma,  for 
Silsden  was  not  far  distant  from  Haworth,  where  Grimshawe  had  preached  and  prayed. 
Six  miles  away  was  Skipton,  the  capital  of  the  Craven  district,  with  its  historic  castle 
and  its  memories  of  the  Cliffords.  At  this  time,  John  Flesher  was  living  in  Silsden  at 
the  house  of  his  father,  the  village  schoolmaster.  Though  but  a  youth  of  twenty  he 
had  been  a  Wesleyan  Methodist  five  years,  and  already  had  preached  his  trial  sermon 
before  the  Rev.  Joseph  Fowler,  of  "  Sidelights  "  fame.*  As  is  the  case  with  the  many, 

*  "Side  Lights  on  the  Conflicts  of   Methodism.     Taken  chiefly  from   the   Notes  of   the  late 
Rev.  Joseph  Fowler,"  etc.     By  Benjamin  Gregory,  D.D. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  117 

the  young  "  local "  might  have  been  content  to  tread  the  beaten  path  of  routine ;  but 
he  was  not.  He  spent  much  time  in  visitation ;  he  made  personal,  pointed  appeals  to 
his  friends  and  neighbours  on  soul-matters ;  he  even  went  the  length  of  preaching  from 
his  father's  doorstep.  We  need  scarcely  wonder  if  some  of  his  proceedings  were  little 
relished  by  his  co-religionists.  "  How  forward  !  How  indiscreet !  So  young  a  man, 
too  ! '  There  were  head-shakings,  and  non-committal,  critical  looks  and  whisperings. 
Still  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  approved,  although  they  might  not  share  his 
zeal.  One  who  had  been  down  in  Lincolnshire  buying  wool,  brought  back  glowing 
accounts  of  the  doings  of  the  Primitives  in  those  parts,  and  finished  with  the  observa- 
tion that  the  young  schoolmaster  might  do  worse  than  invite  these  people  into  Craven  : 
they  would  suit  him  to  a  nicety.  Whether  the  suggestion  Avere  seriously  meant  or  not, 
it  was  seriously  taken  and  soon  bore  fruit. 

Meanwhile,  another  Wesleyan  local  preacher  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Skipton  was 
led  to  take  the  same  step  as  John  Flesher — to  invite  the  Primitives  to  enter  Craven. 
John  Parkinson,  a  local  preacher  since  1812,  was  Avhat  Hugh  Bourne  Avould  at  once 
have  described  as  a  "  Revivalist."  He  had  taken  part  in  beginning  and  carrying  on 
a  Sunday  school  in  his  father's  barn ;  he  did  not  confine  his  labours  to  places  set  apart 
for  public  worship,  but  preached  in  the  streets  and  lanes  and  on  village-greens ;  he  had 
Avhat  he  called  his  '  mission, '  comprising  several  villages  he  regularly  visited.  The 
criticism  and  discouragement,  Avhich  came  in  due  course,  led  him  seriously  to  "  ponder 
his  Avays."  Was  he  right  or  wrong?  After  conference  Avith  a  friend,  the  two  adjourned 
to  an  enclosure  leading  to  Silsden  Moor,  and  there  they  believed  they  received  a  divine 
intimation  that  they  must  go  on  in  their  chosen  line  of  activity.  At  this  juncture, 
tidings  reached  them  that  hundreds  of  sinners  Avere  being  converted  in  Leeds  and  its 
neighbourhood  through  the  labours  of  the  Primitive  Methodists,  and  their  "  Come  over 
and  help  us  "  Avas  duly  sent.  Their  resignations  were  handed  in  to  the  authorities  and 
reluctantly  accepted,  and  they  Avere  now  free  to  throw  in  their  lot  with  the  missionaries 
when  they  should  arrive. 

In  response  to  this  double  invitation,  Samuel  Laister,  whom 
we  have  already  seen  on  the  Wolds,  at  Leeds,  and  at  Malton, 
Avas  sent  to  Skipton  and  Silsden,  March,  1821,  and,  soon  after, 
the  deAroted  Thomas  Batty  came  on  the  ground,  and  laboured 
some  nine  months  in  Craven  before  going  on  the  north-western 
mission  at  Barnard  Castle.  Thomas  Batty  (born  1790)  as  a  child 
came  into  close  touch  with  Joseph  Benson,  Joseph  Entwisle 
and  other  eminent  Wesleyan  ministers  Av'ho  Avere  entertained 
at  his  father's  house.  William  BraniAvell's  hand  had  often  been 
fondly  placed  on  his  head.  Batty  entered  the  navy  and  got  his 
discharge  in  1813.  He  became  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher  at 
North  Frodingham,  but  having  preached  at  two  camp  meetings 
REV  THOMAS  BATTY.  ^  faQ  Driffield  Branch,  he  had  to  make  his  choice  between 

Age!  45  years. 

ceasing  to  attend  camp  meetings  or  ceasing  to  be  a  Wesleyan 

local  preacher.  He  chose  the  latter  alternative.  This  Avas  in  the  spring  of  1820, 
and  just  a  year  after,  he  began  as  a  hired  local  preacher  in  Driffield  Branch,  and 


118 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


was  soon  transferred  to  Silsden  Mission.  The  second  service  at  Silsden  was  held  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Flesher,  sen.,  and  for  some  little  time  the  society  had  the  use  of  his  harn 
for  religious  services.  One  of  Mr.  Flesher's  cherished  recollections  was  of  a  certain 
evening  when  "  forty-four  sinners  were  pricked  in  their  heart  under  one  sermon."  One 

of  the  forty-four  was  the  late  Mr.  Joshua  Fletcher, 
for  many  years  a  leading  Connexions]  official  in 
Yorkshire.  Messrs.  David  Tillotson  and  William 
Newton  were  also  among  the  first  converts  in  the 
old  barn,  and  rendered  eminent  service  to  the 
cause,  while  Silsden  was  the  birth-place,  natural 
and  spiritual,  of  Revs.  W.  Inman,  T.  Baron  and 
S.  Bracewell,  and  the  home  of  Mr.  G.  Baron, 
whose  connection  with  the  Bemersley  Book- 
Room  has  already  been  referred  to.* 

Needless  to  say,  John  Flesher  not  only  invited 
the  Primitives  to  Craven,  but  when  they  came 
united  himself  to  them.  Soon,  however,  he 
removed  to  a  school  in  Leeds,  and  by  June, 
1822,  he  had  entered  the  ministry,  his  first 
appointment  being  to  Tadcaster.  Later,  we 
shall  see  something  of  what  he  was  as  legis- 
lator, re-organiser  of  the  Book-Room  and  Editor: 
what  he  was  in  his  prime  as  a  preacher  and 
platform  speaker  we  can  now  but  imperfectly 
picture.  But  one  who  knew  him  Avell,  has 
declared  that  "  he  surpassed  every  other  speaker  it  had  been  his  fortune  to  listen  to,  '  in 
the  matter  of  passion,'  as  Foster  phrases  it,  which  he  infused  into  all  his  discourses." 
He  calls  him  "the  Bradburn  of  Primitive  Methodism,"  and  avers  that  "he  might  have 
been  its  Watson,  if  he  had  not  preferred  immediate  to  more  remote  results."  t 


OLD  BAKN,  SILSDEN,   WHERE  THE  FIRST 
SERVICES  WERE  HELD. 


MR.    JOSHUA  FLETCHER. 


MR.    DAVID  TILLOTSON. 


MR.  WILLIAM  NEWTON. 


*  See  vol.  ii.  pp.  7—8  for  portraits  and  further  references  to  the  brothers  Barou. 

t  "  United  Methodist  Free  Churches'  Magazine,"  1859.  We  judge  the  writer  to  have  been  the 
Editor,  Rev.  Matthew  Baxter,  who  for  two  years,  1829-31,  was  in  our  ministry,  Mr.  Flesher  had 
a  high  estimate  of  Mr.  Baxter's  talents. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  119 

As  a  pioneer  worker  in  the  Craven  district,  John  Parkinson  deserves  a  further  word 
or  two.  He  is  said  to  have  missioned  Braildon,  and  to  have  been  among  the  first  to 
publish  the  glad  tidings  at  Keighley,  Shipley  and  Bradford.  He,  too,  was  not  wanting 
"in  the  matter  of  passion."  He  evidently  had  all  the  intensity  and  perfervidness  of 
the  West  Eiding  temperament,  as  the  following  description  of  an  actual  camp  meeting 
scene  in  Craven  at  which  he  figured,  will  show.  Mr.  Flesher  himself  is  the  writer,  and 
while  the  passage  is  worth  giving  as  a  fair  specimen  of  Mr.  Flesher's  prose,  of  which 
we  have  so  little,  it  may  have  its  use  as  going  some  way  to  show  us — what  we  are  so 
anxious  to  know — what  sort  of  preaching  it  was  which  in  those  far-off  days  produced 
those  immediate  and  tremendous  effects  which  excite  our  wonder,  and  our  envy  too,  as 
we  read. 

"  He  figures  in  my  recollection  as  I  saw  him  addressing  a  crowd  from  a  waggon  at 
Silsden.  Every  eye  and  heart  of  the  vast  assembly  seemed  riveted  on  the  speaker,  and 
deep  feeling  was  betrayed  on  every  countenance,  as  if  struggling  for  an  outlet.  The 
doom  of  the  finally  impenitent  was  under  review  at  the  time,  and  terribly  did  the 
preacher  portray  it.  Suddenly  he  paused,  as  if  to  let  his  hearers  weigh  their  destinies. 
This  heightened  the  effect,  and  many  a  stone-hearted  sinner  sighed  under  the  weight  of 
his  guilt.  As  tears  were  flowing  fast,  mingling  with  the  meanings  of  the  broken- 
hearted, brother  Parkinson,  in  apparent  triumph,  while  his  coxmtenance,  gesture,  voice, 
and  feeling  harmonised  with  his  address,  opened  the  gate  of  mercy  so  effectually  that 
some  immediately  entered  it,  and  were  saved,  some  clung  to  the  wheels  and  shelvings 
of  the  waggons  to  avoid  being  borne  down  to  the  ground  under  the  load  of  guilt,  while 
the  praises  of  the  pious  poured  forth  from  all  parts  of  the  assembly.  Jubilant  were 
angels  that  day  over  many  sinners  repenting  and  turning  to  Christ." 

That  John  Parkinson  missioned  Shipley  in  1821  is  confirmed  by  Rev.  Richard 
Cordingley,  who  tells  us  that  meetings  were  held  in  the  houses  of  Mrs.  Emanuel 
Hodgson  and  Mrs.  Cordingley.  Richard  Cordingley  joined  the  class  that  was  formed, 
and  when  barely  fifteen  years  of  age,  came  on  the  Silsden  plan,  having  as  his  fellow- 
exhorters  Solomon  Moore,  of  Keighley,  and  Jabez — afterwards  Dr. — Burns,  whom  we 
shall  meet  again.  Of  later  worthies  of  Keighley  Primitive  Methodism,  respectful 
mention  must  be  made  of  the  two  remarkable  brothers,  Messrs.  F.  and  Addyman 
Smith. 

An  untoward  event  that  might  have  proved  a  huge  disaster  happened  on  the  occasion 
of  the  holding  of  the  first  lovefeast  in  Keighley,  September  16th,  1821,  and  was 
deemed  of  sufficient  public  interest  to  be  chronicled  in  the  current  issue  of  "The  Times." 
The  lovefeast  was  held  in  the  topmost  story  of  a  wool-warehouse.  Thomas  Batty,  as 
the  leader,  had  just  pronounced  the  benediction,  when  the  floor  gave  way.  With 
shrieks,  and  amid  dust  and  broken  beams  and  flooring,  the  crowd  fell  into  the  rooms 
below.  The  preacher,  by  his  sailor-like  agility,  managed  to  save  himself  by  leaping 
into  the  embrasure  of  a  window ;  but  many  were  hurt,  and  one  woman  died  next  day 
from  injuries  received.  Some  said  the  event  was  intended  as  a  judgment  on  the 
"Ranters";  nevertheless  the  cause  prospered,  and;  in  1824,  Keighley  was  made 
a  Circuit  of  the  Sunderland  District.  One  of  the  first  to  open  his  house  for  religious 
services  Avas  the  father  of  Rev.  J.  Judson,  who  began  his  more  public  labours  by 


120 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


REV.  JOHN  JUD8ON. 


becoming  a  hired  local  preacher  in  Keighley,  his  native  Circuit.  His  ministry  of  forty -one 
laborious  years  began  in  1833  in  the  Silsden  Circuit,  where  he  stayed  three  years,  the 
last  year  being  devoted  to  Grassington  Mission  under  the  auspices  of  Keighley. 
Mr.  Judson  travelled  in  most  of  the  leading  circuits  in  the  Manchester  District,  and 
died  at  Oldham,  -June  28th,  1876. 

Before  leaving  the  neighbourhood  of  Keighley,  a  reference  may  be  permitted  to  the 
opening  of  Haworth  by  F.  N.  Jersey,  who  spent  two  months 
on  the  Silsden  Branch.  AVriting  under  the  date  of  April  25th, 
he  says : — 

"Went  to  open  Haworth.  I  sung  a  hymn  down  the  street. 
The  people  flocked  as  doves  to  the  windows.  I  preached  to  about 
nine  hundred  people,  and  two  very  wicked  men  were  awakened. 
Praise  the  Lord  for  ever." 

The  Rev.  Patrick  Bronte  became  curate  of  Haworth  and  removed 
there  in  1820.  When  F.  N.  Jersey  sang  down  the  streets  of  the 
moorland  village,  Charlotte  Bronte  was  a  girl  of  six.  One  likes 
to  think  that  the  girl  who  was  to  make  that  village  famous  heard 
the  singing,  and  may  even  have  looked  on  the  unwonted  scene. 
Silsden  Branch  included  not  only  the  Craven  district,  but  also  some  places  in  the 
adjoining  county  of  Lancaster,  such  as  Barley,  lying  under  Pendlehill,  where  there  was 
a  vigorous  society,  and  Trawdon,  the  native  place  of  Robert  Hartley,  uncle  of  Mr.  "VV.  P. 
Hartley,  whom  also  this  district  was  afterwards  to  nurture,  to  the  great  advantage  of 
our  Church.  Born  in  1817,  Robert  Hartley  entered  the  ministry  in  1835,  and  in  1859 
went  to  Australia,  "becoming  the  most  widely-known  and  most  generally  respected 
minister  of  the  gospel  of  Central  Queensland."  He  could  count  among  his  friends  such 
men  as  Canon  Knox  Little  and  Dr.  A.  Maclaren,  and  at  his  death,  in  1892,  the  citizens 
of  Rockhampton  erected  a  public  memorial  to  his  "noble  character,  godly  life,  and 
untiring  benevolence."  It  was  at  Barley  that  John  Petty  preached,  November,  1823, 
his  first  sermon,  and  it  was  at  Trawdon  where  he  began,  and  fell  in  lasting  love  with  the 
practice  of  open-air  preaching.  John  Petty 's  home  was  at  Salterforth,  a  village  on  the 
western  border  of  Yorkshire.  It  was  first  missioned  by  F.  N.  Jersey, 
who  preached  in  the  village  street  during  the  dinner-hour.  The 
next  to  follow  was  Thomas  Batty.  In  the  character  of  this  minister, 
whom  his  father  entertained,  John  Petty  found  the  most  powerful 
persuasive  to  the  Christian  life.  The  sermons  Batty  preached  in 
the  barn  were  not  so  telling  as  the  sermon  he  preached  by  his 
daily  life  and  conversation.  So  this  thoughtful  youth  felt.  Hence, 
without  any  great  spiritual  shock  or  struggle,  he  went  on  to 
know  the  Lord,  being  "drawn  by  the  cords"  of  a  Christ-like  man. 
Mr.  Petty  lived  to  write  the  biography  of  his  captor  for  Christ, 
and  he  tells  how,  as  a  youth  of  fifteen,  "he  was  deeply  moved, 
and  his  heart  graciously  drawn  out  after  God."  Mr.  Batty,  he 
adds :  "  Seemed  to  be  always  happy,  constantly  joyful  in  the  Lord,  practically 
presenting  religion  in  a  most  attractive  and  winning  form.  He  could  converse,  sing, 


ROBERT   HARTLEY. 
t  ged  43. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIKCUIT    rUKDOMlNANCE    AND    KNTKKPKISE. 


121 


preach,  and  pray  almost  all  day  long ;  and  greatly  did  he  charm  and  profit  the  domestic 
circle."*  Mr.  Petty,  sen.,  became  the  leader  of  the  first  class  at  Salterforth,  while 
his  son  was  soon  to  enter  on  wider  service.  Two  years  to  a  day  after  preaching  his 
first  sermon  at  Barley,  "  John  Bowes  fetched  me  to  help  him  in  Keighley  Circuit,"  says 
Mr.  Petty,  and  in  1826,  Avhen  not  yet  nineteen,  he  was  sent  to 
distant  Haverfordwest.t 

The  missionaries  now  pushed  on  still  farther  into  Lancashire. 
Blackburn  and  Preston  were  reached,  and  these  towns  became  almost 
at  once  the  head  of  a  new  branch.  The  late  Rev.  W.  Brining 
affirms  that  Thomas  Batty  missioned  Preston  in  1821.  The 
statement  is  confirmed  by  .Jonathan  Ireland,  who  tells  us  that 
Mr.  Batty  preached  in  a  cottage,  in  which  some  of  the  more  zealous 
Wesleyans  held  one  of  their  prayer  meetings ;  that  in  a  short  time 
the  members  were  forbidden  to  receive  the  Primitives  into  their 
houses,  and  that  some  of  the  members  resisted  the  interdict,  Mr. 
W.  Brining,  aWesleyan  local  preacher,  being  one.  J  So  far  Jonathan 
Ireland.  Mr.  Brining  himself  states,  that  his  father  and  he  joined  the  Primitives  in 
January,  1822,  and  took  a  large  room,  for  the  rent  of  which  his  father  became  responsible  ; 
also  that  he  and  three  .others  were  appointed  local  preachers,  and  that  the  March 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Hull  Circuit  "took  him  out  to  travel,"  and  that  he  began 
his  labours  on  the  Preston  Branch  along  with  Mr.  G.  Tindall.  There  is  also  evidence  to 
show  that  John  Harrison,  too,  was  an  early  pioneer  labourer  in  this  district.  According 
to  the  late  Rev.  S.  Smith,  Mr.  Harrison  made  his  wayttto  Preston,  and  was  entertained 
by  Mr.  Shorrocks  (afterwards  a  leader  in  Manchester),  and  was  also  taken  before  the 
Mayor  of  Preston  as  a  suspicious  character,  but  was  courteously  entreated  and  dismissed 
with  "  a  glass  of  wine  !  "  § 

Mr.  Batty  also  opened  Blackburn,  Wigan,  Padiham,  and  Accrington. 
From  the  Journals  and  memoirs  of  the  time,  we  cull  one  or  two 
references  to  these  and  other  places  connected  with  this  early 
mission.  We  are  told  that  at  Blackburn  Mr.  Batty  preached  his 
first  sermon  standing  on  a  dunghill  !  Be  this  as  it  may,  one  man 
that  day  was,  metaphorically,  lifted  from  the  dunghill ;  for  a  certain 
James  Chadwick,  one  of  the  worst  men  in  the  town,  was  converted, 
and  became  a  useful  member  of  society.  At  Wigan,  on  May  6th, 
1822,  he  sent  the  bellman  round  the  town,  and  in  the  evening 
preached  to  about  a  thousand  people.  At  Chorley  he  spoke  at  the 
Cross  to  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  and  in  the  evening  preached 
in  the  room  which  the  players  had  occupied.  Mr.  Brining  made 
his  way  to  Haslingden,  and  a  class  was  formed  at  "  Manchester  Mary's."  Mr.  G.  Tindall 

*"  Memoir  of  the  Life  and  Labours  of  Thomas  Batty,  1857,"  p.  44. 

tSee  Ante,  vol.  i.  p.  344. 

J  "  Jonathan  Ireland,  the  street-preacher,"  p.  26.  See  also  for  Mr.  Ireland's  Preston  experiences 
Ante,  vol.  ii.,  p.  24. 

§ "  The  Introduction  and  Spread  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Lancashire : "  in  "  Facts  and 
Incidents,"  p.  103. 


122 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


enters  in  his  Journal,  on  April  25th,  1822:  "  Went  as  a  missionary  among  the  small 
villages  to  search  for  places  to  preach  at."  On  May  6th,  he  spoke  at  Clitheroe  Market- 
cross  to  a  large  concourse  of  people,  and  formed  a  class  of  ten  members.  On  June  1 6th, 
he  spoke  at  Padiham,  Oakenshaw,  and  Accrington,  and  adds  :  "I  had  to  oppose  drunkards, 
formal  professors,  Unitarians,  and  almost  all  other  characters  of  sinners." 

The  progress  made  by  both  branches  was  such  that,  in  December,  1823,  they  were 
granted  self-government ;  Silsden  starting  its  career  with  five  preachers  and  Preston 
with  three.  At  the  same  time  Clitheroe,  with  Burnley,  Accrington,  Barley,  Colne,  and 
other  places  were  detached,  and  constituted  a  branch  of  Silsden.  1824  saw  both 
Blackburn  and  Clitheroe  raised  to  the  status  of  circuits.  But,  ere  long,  Clitheroe  found 
it  difficult  to  maintain  its  position,  so  much  so  that  Keighley,  Blackburn,  and  Bolton 
Circuits  were  in  succession  asked  to  take  it  under  their  wing;  but  in  each  case  the 
overture  was  declined.  Then,  Daniel-like,  the  circuit  determined  "  to  stand  alone ; " 
only,  as  Clitheroe  Society  had  for  the  time  being  become  extinct,  Burnley  was  made  the 
head  of  the  circuit. 

Burnley  is  a  typical  Lancashire  town,  largely  the  creation  of  the  new  industrial  era. 

Its  position,  in  a  basin-like 
depression  among  the  hills, 
has  helped  it.  The  humid 
atmosphere  of  the  valley  is  just 
adapted  for  cotton-spinning,  and 
manufacturers  have  been  quick 
to  seize  their  advantage,  so  that 
now  Burnley  is  a  busy  centre 
of  the  cotton-spinning  industry. 
Hence,  if  not  exactly  a  town  of 
yesterday,  Burnley  has  made 
its  most  notable  advance  within 
recent  years,  as  may  be  gathered 
from  the  fact  that,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century,  its 
population  was  little  more  than 
five  thousand.  Our  Church  has  thriven  with  the  thriving  of  the  town.  Burnley  is  under- 
stood to  be  the  "Lynford"  of  Mr.  Joseph  Hocking's  story,  "The  Purple  Robe,"and  amongst 
the  hard-headed,  strenuous  folk  there  depicted,  our  ministrations  have  met  with  much 
acceptance.  When,  in  1896,  Burnley  for  the  first  time  welcomed  the  Conference  to 
North-East  Lancashire,  any  one  who  saw  the  commodious  and  substantially-built  chapels 
in  the  town  and  neighbourhood,  would  have  learned  with  some  surprise  that,  up  to 
1834,  the  society  of  but  fifty  members  had  not  as  yet  got  its  chapel,  but  had  to  make 
shift  with  rented  rooms,  four  of  which  were  occupied  in  succession  before  Curzon  Street 
Chapel  was  opened  in  1834.  This  "setting-up  house"  took  place  during  the  superin- 
tendency  of  Rev.  M.  Lee,  whose  term  of  service  in  the  Burnley  Circuit  seems  to  have 
begun  the  era  of  progress.  In  1852,  Bethel  Chapel  was  built,  and  certainly  not  before 
time,  since  Curzon  Street  Chapel  did  not  provide  seatage  \  for  much  more  than 


BETHEL   CHAPEL,    BURNLEY   1ST  CIRCUIT. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


123 


half  the  members  who  formed  the  society.  This  chapel  of  1852,  since  greatly  improved 
and  added  to,  is  all  that  is  left  to  represent  the  original  Burnley  Circuit.  New  interests 
have  been  created,  and  by  division  and  subdivision  Burnley  Second,  Colne,  Barrowford, 
and  Nelson  Circuits  -"have'  been  formed — the  first  division  taking  place  in  1864,  when 
Colne  started  on  an  independent  career. 

The  historian  of  ^Burnley  Primitive  Methodism  has  rightly  recalled  the  names  of 

many  of  its  worthies  past  and 
present.*  We  borrow  his  refer- 
ences to  two  or  three  of  the 
early  workers.  First  in  order 
comes  John  Lancaster,  who,  as 
a  youth,  received  lasting  good 
from  John  Petty  when  he 
preached  at  Burnley  in  knee- 
breeches,  and  standing  on  the 
slop-stone.  "  He  was  for  thirty- 
three  years  one  of  the  most 
devoted  and  earnest  men  ever 
given  to  a  Christian  com- 
munity." Stephen  Tattersall 
"  was  long  a  useful  and  zealous 
official;"  Jonathan  Gaukrodger, 
"  ever  ready  by  toil  and  purse  to  help  the  cause ; "  John  Marsden,  "  cheerful,  generous, 
'  given  to  hospitality/  an  efficient  and  devoted  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School ; " 
W.  Thornber,  for  fifty -five  years  a  local  preacher;  and  John  Baldwin,  "who  may  be 
described  as  the  successor  of  John  Lancaster;  for  more  than  thirty  years^a  class-leader, 
and  who  for  more  than  half  a  century  filled,  with  much  acceptance,  the  office  of  local 
preacher." 

The  head  of  Burnley  Second  is  Colne  Road,  Brierfield,  with  its  chapel,  erected  1864, 


BKIERFIELD   CHAPEL,  BURNLEY   2ND   CIRCUIT. 


MR.  JOHN     LANCASTER. 


ALL).    J.     SMITH. 


MR.    J.    C'LARKSON. 


and  its  splendid  school  premises  built  twenty  years  after.  Connected  with  this  cause, 
to  which  he  has  rendered  most  efficient  aid,  is  Alderman  J.  Smith,  who  was  Chairman 
of  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  Missionary  Meeting  in  1902,  and  who  is  well  known  for 

*  "  Bethel  Primitive  Methodist  Chapel,  1852-1902.     Jubilee  Souvenir,"  by  Rev.  George  King. 


124  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHUKCH. 

the  interest  he  has  taken  in  the  Connexional  Orphanage  and  other  institutions.  The 
late  James  Clarkson  was  to  the  Brierfield  Society  pretty  much  what  John  Lancaster  was 
to  Bethel.  When  he  was  arrested  by  grace  he  was  a  beer- seller;  but  he  pulled  down 
his  sign,  poured  his  unsold  liquor  down  the  sewer,  and  never  rested  till  he  found 
forgiveness.  "  By  his  diligence,  zeal,  piety,  and  abundant  labours  he  became  one  of  the 
most  useful  officials  in  the  Connexion." 

After  Blackburn  was  made  a  circuit  the  same  process  of  "  multiplication  by  division  " 
went  on  which  we  have  seen  at  work  in  the  case  of  Burnley,  its  earliest  offshoot.  The 
one  circuit  has  become  at  least  five ;  for  Blackburn  is  now  represented  by  Haslingden, 
formed  as  long  ago  as  1837  ;  Foxhill  Bank  and  Accrington,  made  from  Haslingden  in 
1864,  and  the  three  Blackburn  Circuits.  With  Haslingden  Circuit  was  connected 
Mr.  James  Whittaker,  for  many  years  a  prominent  Lancashire  official.  Precisely  the 
same  kind  of  intensive  growth  has  gone  on  in  the  Preston  Circuit  since  its  formation  in 
1823.  But  what  it  concerns  us  more  just  now  to  note  is  the  fact,  that  Preston,  by  its 
early  missionary  labours,  helped  to  extend  the  borders  of  the  Connexion.  It  pushed 
forward  into  new  territory — into  certain  parts  of  North  Lancashire  the  first  missionaries 
from  Hull  had  not  reached.  This  not  very  thickly  populated  country  lay  to  the  north 
by  the  Lime  and  Morecambe  Bay,  and  curved  round  to  the  Kibble,  where,  on  one  side 
of  the  estuary,  in  the  Fylde  district,  were  Fleetwood  and  Blackpool,  and  on  the  other 
S  outhport,  rising  among  its  sandbanks.  Here  and  there  in  this  district  Preston 
succeeded  in  establishing  societies  which  abide  and  flourish.  Notably  Preston  began 
those  tentative  efforts  which  ultimately  secured  a  footing  for  the  Connexion  in  the  two 
popular  watering-places,  even  then  fast  growing  in  size  and  public  favour.  We  must 
briefly  notice  these  aggressive  efforts  which  were  a  continuation  of  Hull's  Western 
Mission,  and  carried  the  evangel  from  the  Humber  to  Morecambe 
Bay  and  the  sand-dunes  by  the  Irish  Sea. 

We  have  before  us  a  plan  of  Preston  Circuit  for  May-July, 
1832,  when  S.  Smith,  J.  Moore,  and  J.  A.  Bastow  were  its 
preachers.  Halton  beyond  the  Lune  and  Lancaster  are  two 
places  on  this  plan  regularly  supplied  with  preachers.  At 
Lancaster  the  Preston  missionaries  sometimes  experienced  rough 
usage,  and  occasionally  made  acquaintance  with  the  interior  of 
Lancaster  Castle.*  (Parenthetically  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
as  late  as  1874  the  Rev.  Thomas  Wilshaw  was  summoned  by 
the  Chief  Constable  for  preaching  from  the  Town  Hall  steps. 
The  costs  of  the  defence  were  generously  paid  by  Mr.  James 
Williamson,  jun.,  afterwards  Lord  Ashton,  and  the  magistrates 

dismissed  the  case).  A  Missionary  Meeting  was  held  at  Lancaster  in  1829,  interest- 
ing to  us  because  it  brought  together  Hugh  Bourne  and  a  Preston  youth  who  was 
just  about  to  begin  a  ministry  of  unprecedented  length  and  influence.  A  camp 

*  "  Preston  entered  largely  into  the  mission-work  for  twenty  or  thirty  miles  round.  Here  they 
had  some  persecutions :  one  of  their  missionaries  was  seized  by  the  yeoman  cavalry  at  Lancaster  and 
shockingly  ill-treated.  Brother  F.  Charlton  was  thrown  into  Lancaster  Castle  by  a  bad  man,  who 
afterwards  died  raging  mad."  Eev.  S.  Smith,  "  Anecdotes  and  Facts  of  Primitive  Methodism,"  p.  104. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  1  25 

meeting  and  lovefeast  lie  attended  at  Preston  in  1826  had  powerfully  impressed  George 
Lamb.  He  joined  the  society,  and  improved  his  talents  so  markedly  that  his  profiting 
appeared  to  all ;  and  now,  it  would  seem,  Hugh  Bourne  had  set  his  heart  upon  being 
the  medium  of  conveying  to  the  young  man  the  call  of  the  Church  to  wider  service,  and 
had  come  to  Lancaster  for  that  very  purpose,  as  well  as  to  assist  at  the  Missionary 
Meeting.  The  two  had  conference  together,  and  then  Hugh  Bourne  thoughtfully  gave 
the  young  man,  just  putting  on  the  harness,  a  letter  of  recommendation  to  the  friends  at 
Halifax,  Leeds,  and  York,  the  towns  he  must  pass  through  on  his  way  to  Pocklington, 
his  first  circuit.  Fifty-seven  years  after  this  informal  ordination  service,  Mr.  Lamb  was 
still  in  harness.  Old  age  had  but  mellowed  his  character,  while  there  was  little 
appreciable  decline  of  vigour  or  industry  in  his  service ;  and  then  the  word  of  dismissal 
came,  February,  1886.  Mr.  Lamb  was  twice  President,  1866  and  1884,  General  Book 
Steward,  Conferential  Deputation  to  Canada,  1876,  Member  of  the  Deed  Poll,  1880. 
A  mission,  that  in  its  first  eight  years  gave  John  Flesher,  John  Petty,  and  George  Lamb 
to  our  Church,  as  Hull's  Western  Mission  did,  has  strong  claims  on  our  remembrance. 

At  Lancaster,  an  old  coach-house  in  Bulk  Street  was,  in  1836,  fitted  up  as  a  chapel. 
Through  the  spread  of  "  Barkerism  "  this  building  was  for  a  time  lost  to  the  society. 
Afterwards,  however,  it  was  recovered,  made  Connexional,  and  served  the  uses  of  the 
society  until  1854,  when  Ebenezer  was  built.  Meanwhile,  Lancaster  had  been  separated 
from  Preston  and  made  part  of  the  Settle  and  Halifax  Mission  of  Halifax  Circuit.  In 
1837,  the  writer's  father  "travelled" — in  the  full  sense  of  the  word — on  this  mission, 
Avhich  stretched  some  forty  miles,  from  Bellbusk  in  Craven  to  Heysham  by  the  seaside. 
As  he  was  wont  to  say  :  "  It  constituted  a  first-rate  promenade  for  creating  an  appetite, 
but  was  remarkably  scanty  in  supplying  the  wherewithal  to  appease  it.  That  had  to  be 
got  how  and  when  it  could."  We  need  not  follow  the  history  of  Lancaster  after  it  was 
taken  over  by  the  General  Missionary  Committee,  except  to  notice  that  it  was  again 
separated  from  Settle,  and  after  a  period  of  barrenness  and  struggle  it  gradually 
improved,  and  in  1868  was  granted  circuit  independence,  Morecambe  being  formed  from 
it  in  1901.  A  document  in  our  possession  brings  home  to  the  mind  in  a  realistic  way 
the  amount  of  toil,  voluntarily  and  cheerfully  undergone  in  the  past  by  the  local 
preachers  of  some  of  our  most  unproductive  fields  of  labour.  But  for  their  loyalty  and 
tenacity,  what  are  now  comparatively  vigorous  circuits,  such  as  Lancaster  is,  might  have 
been  abandoned.  The  document  in  question  is  an  analysis  of  the  Lancaster  Plan  for 
the  quarter  April  to  June,  1844.  It  shows  that  the  twelve  local  preachers,  whose 
names  stand  on  this  plan,  took  amongst  them  one  hundred  and  seventeen  Sunday 
appointments,  and  thirty-nine  week-evening  services,  exclusive  of  prayer  meetings  and 
class  meetings,  and  that  the  number  of  miles  they  walked  to  their  appointments 
amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two. 

Three  of  the  twelve  whose  names  stand  on  this  plan  bear  the  name  of  Bickerstaffe — 
William  and  two  of  his  sons.  The  former  was  the  carrier  of  the  mails  between  Settle 
and  Lancaster.  He  was  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher,  and  in  those  pre-railway  days  found 
a  home  for  the  travelling-preacher  and  stabling  for  his  horse.  But  he  joined  the 
Primitives,  "thinking  he  could  be  more  useful  amongst  them."  He  did  not  regret  the 
choice  he  had  made,  but  did  all  for  the  new  community  and  more  than  he  had  done  for 


126 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


the  old  one,  with  which  he  had  no  quarrel.  His  son,  Henry,  was  for  many  years 
a  leading  official  of  the  Lancaster  Circuit,  while  Us  son,  Mr.  T.  Y.  Bickerstaffe,  is  its 
present  Steward,  and  a  local  preacher  of  the  fourth  generation  bears  the  old  name. 
The  reference  to  the  Bickerstaffes  may  he  pardoned  as,  in  1843,  the  father  of  the  writer 
took  a  daughter  of  this  house  from  the  Bulk  Street  Society  to  be  the  companion  of  his 
ministerial  toils. 

On  that  same  Preston  Plan  of  1832,  to  which  we  have  referred,  we  find  Chorley, 
besides  Wrightington,  Wheelton,  and  Standish,  in  the  direction  of  Wigan.  To  this 
period  and  district  belongs  the  story  of  Mr.  Bastow's  imprisonment  for  preaching  in 
Wigan  Market-place.  An  occupant  of  the  same  cell,  struck  by  his  respectable 
appearance,  wanted  to  know  what  he  had  done  to  get  himself  put  there.  "  Preaching 
the  gospel "  was  the  answer.  k'  And  I,"  said  the  man,  "  am  here  for  not  attending  divine 
worship.  They  are  a  strange  people  here,  and  how  to  please  them  no  one  knows. 


HOOLE   FIRST   CHAPEL, 

You  are  sent  to  prison  for  being  good,  and  I  for  being  bad.  We  are  a  strange  pair — 
both  to  be  imprisoned  by  the  same  man  and  the  same  laws ! "  We  note  that  in  the 
process  of  consolidation,  Chorley  was  made  from  Preston  and  Wigan  from  Chorley,  in 
1837  and  1867  respectively. 

Hoole,  which  also  stands  on  this  plan,  formed  the  base  for  the  missioning  of 
Southport  and  its  vicinity.  Here,  somewhere  about  1824,  a  two-floored  house  was 
rented,  the  partitions  were  removed,  and  a  flight  of  stone  steps,  built  on  the  outside,  led 
to  the  upper  room,  which  formed  a  fair  chapel,  while  the  room  on  the  ground  floor  was 
used  as  a  school.  Two  chapels  have  since  been  built  at  Hoole,  and  in  the  graveyard, 
attached  to  the  first  of  these,  lie  the  remains  of  one  at  least  of  the  three  men  who,  with 
the  Preston  ministers,  had  much  to  do  with  the  missioning  of  Southport — Thomas  and 
Richard  Hough  and  John  Webster,  who  for  many  years  were  abundant  in  missionary 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


127 


labours.  The  first  services  at  Southport,  we  are  told,  were  held  in  a  barn  at  Church- 
town — likewise  on  this  plan — and  a  chapel  and  school  were  built  in  1833  and  enlarged 
in  1853,  and  Southport,  with  186  members,  became  a  circuit  in  1864.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  plan  of  1832  announces  a  camp  meeting  to  be  held  "in  the  North 
Meols,"  near  Southport,  on  June  10th. 

Preston,  too,  missioned  the  Fylde  district.  Rev.  S.  Smith  has  an  anecdote,  from 
internal  evidence  belonging  to  an  early  period,  relating  to  "  our  Fylde  missionary,"  who 
after  preaching  at  night  in  the  streets  of  Poulton — "a  sadly  wicked  place" — found 
himself  eighteen  miles  from  home  without  the  prospect  of  supper  or  bed,  but  who 
providentially  found  both.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Freckleton  was  made  the 
base  for  opening  up  the  Fylde,  in  which  are  now  the  Blackpool  and  Fleetwood  Circuits. 
At  this  place  a  pious  widow,  named  Rawstorne,  lent  her  thatched  cottage  for  services, 
and  provided  accommodation  for  the  missionary.  Then,  in  1848,  the  Rev.  B.  Whillock, 
the  Superintendent  of  Preston  Circuit,  in  conjunction  with  the  afore-named  John 
Webster,  took  a  factory,  and  became  responsible  for  the  rent.  This  building  was  used 
for  worship  until  1862,  when  a  small  chapel  was  opened,  and  this  served  until 
superseded  in  1892  by  a  worthier  building.  The  Rev.  B.  Whillock  entered  the 


THOMAS    HOUGH. 


J.    WEBSTER. 


REV.    B.    WHILLOCK. 


ministry  in  1830,  and  in  1870  removed  to  the  United  States,  where  he  is  a  permanent 
member  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Eastern  Conference.  As  his  letters  show, 
Mr.  Whillock  retains  a  lively  interest  in  the  Church  of  the  homeland,  and  is  full 
of  reminiscences  of  its  past. 

Besides  helping  to  enlarge  the  geographical  area  of  the  Connexion,  Preston  also  did 
something  towards  enlarging  the  scope  of  its  endeavours.  It  led  the  way  in  one  branch 
of  social  reform — that  which  seeks  by  organised  effort  to  war  against  intemperance.  It 
showed  how  this  kind  of  social  service  could  be  undertaken  religiously,  and  temperance 
meetings  be  made  to  further  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  No  historian  of  the 
Temperance  movement  in  this  country  can  overlook  the  part  played  by  "  proud  Preston  " 
in  the  beginnings  of  that  movement.  He  will  point  to  that  town  and  show  how,  from 
1832  to  1835,  the  new  sentiment  in  regard  to  strong  drink  not  only  grew  in  strength, 
but  in  clearness  of  purpose.  It  became  surer  of  its  ground,  and  more  militant  and 
altruistic.  Nor  can  the  historian  of  our  Church  omit  all  reference  to  these  things ;  for, 
if  now  we  not  only  have  a  Temperance  Department  within  the  Church,  but  belong 
to  a  Church  which  is  very  largely  a  Temperance  Church,  it  is  partly  owing  to  the  fact 


128 


PRIMITIVE    MKTHODIST   CHUHCH. 


tliat,  seventy  years  ago,  the  ministers  of  Preston  Circuit,  and  some  of  the  members  of 
old  Lawson  Street,  as  after  of  Saul  Street,  were  heart  and  soul  in  the  new  movement, 
which  speedily  drew  others  within  its  vortex.  Probably,  not  even  before  1831,  was  our 
Church  one  whit  behind  other  Churches  in  regard  to  the  question  of  intemperance ; 
rather  was  it  ahead  of  them.  To  say  this,  however,  is  not  to  say  a  great  deal ;  and  it  is 
safe  to  affirm  that  when  this  plan  of  1832  came  from  the  press,  Preston  was  in  advance 
of  the  Connexion  generally  in  temperance  sentiment.  True ;  there  were  here  and  there 
convinced  individual  abstainers.  The  Rev.  James  Macpherson  signed  the  pledge  as 
early  as  1828,  and  Hugh  Bourne  was  practically  a  teetotaller  before  either  Moderation 

or  Total  Abstinence 
Societies  had  an  ex- 
istence. But  what 
Preston  did  was  to 
afford  an  object-lesson, 
showing  how  to  mobi- 
lise the  forces  of  the 
Church  against  the 


SACL   STREET   CHAPEL.    PEESTOX. 


drinking  customs  which  preyed 
upon  society,  and  even  threatened 
the  Church  itself.  It  made  a 
beginning  in  combining  indi- 
vidual temperance  men  in  a 
league  against  the  common  foe 
— offensive  and  defensive.  Let 
us  give  the  briefest  summary  of 
events  relating  to  the  early  stages 
of  the  Temperance  movement  in 
Preston — so  far  at  least  as  our 
Church  was  concerned  in  those  movements.  We  give  this  summation  in  paragraphs,  and 
those  desirous  of  fuller  information  may  consult  with  advantage  the  Rev.  J.  Travis' 
articles  on  "Primitive  Methodism  and  the  Temperance  Reformation  in  England."* 

"  March  22nd,  1832.— Preston  Temperance  Society  formed  on  the  basis  of  the 
'moderation  pledge.' 

"  April  13th.— Committee  appointed,  of  which  Rev.  S.  Smith  was  a  member.  Its 
first  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Bastow.  The  second  memorable 
meeting  was  held  on  May  3rd  in  Lawson  Street  Primitive  Methodist  Chapel,  at 
which  Mr.  Livesey,  in  a  forcible  speech,  took  the  line  of  total  abstinence. 

"July  llth.— First  Temperance  Tea-party,  at  which  574  persons  were  present, 
and  Messrs.  Livesey,  S.  Smith,  and  several  Preston  working-men  spoke.  Next  day 

*  Aldersgate  Magazine,  1899. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


129 


MK.    .1.    KING. 

One  of  the 
'Seven  Men  of  Prestou. 


MR.  GEORGE  TODLMIN,  J.P. 


a  Field  Meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  on  the  Moor,  at  which  Messrs.  Livesey, 
Smith,  and  Teare  gave  addresses. 

'•  September  1st,  1832. — A  special  meeting  was  held  for  discussing  the  question  of 
the  total  abstinence  pledge.     No  decision  was  arrived  at,  but  several  tarried  after 

the   meeting,   and  seven  signed   the  total 

abstinence  pledge.     Of  these  '  seven  men  of 

Preston,'  three  were  Primitive  Methodists, 

viz.,  John    King,   Joseph    Richardson,  who 

was  wont  to  say,     'I  am  the  happiest  man 

alive,  for  no  man  can  be  happier  than  a 

teetotal  Primitive  Methodist;'  and  the  third 

was  Richard  Turner,  who  is  credited  with 

having  originated  the  word  'teetotal.'    At 

his  funeral  in  1846,  the  Saul  Street  Sunday 

School,  and  four  hundred  teetotallers  from 

different  parts  of  the  country,  attended. 
"April,  1834. — Mr.  George  Toulmin,*  the 

Secretary  of   the   Lawson   Street   Sunday 

School,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Walmsley,  moved 

the  resolution,  which  resulted  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  first  Sunday  School  Total  Abstinence  Society,  inaugurated  April  18th. 
It  was  not  till  1835  that  the  Preston  Temperance  Society  became  a  strictly 
Total  Abstinence  Society,  so  that  the  Juvenile  Society  formed  by  the  Primitive 
Methodists  was  the''first  society  on  a  '  teetotal '  basis  in  Preston,  and,  it  is  believed, 
the  first  Juvenile  Teetotal  Society  in  England." 

We  conclude  our  notice  of  Preston  by  giving 
the  portrait  of  Rev.  George  Kidd,  whose 
ministry  in  Preston,  1864-7,  was  signalised 
by  his  heading  one  hundred  and  twenty 
stalwarts  who  refused  to  pay  the  Easter  Church 
Dues,  and  secured  their  abolition  :  also  that  of 
Mr.  \\  illiam  Salthouse,  born  at  Roseacre,  in 
the  Eylde  District,  in  1834,  who  for  half  a 
century  has  stood  by  Preston  Primitive  Metho- 
dism, and  served  its  interests  preferably  in  the 
quieter  ways  of  service. 


REV.    G.    KIDI). 


MR.  W.  SALTHOtSE. 


HULL'S   NORTH-WESTERN    MISSION. 

As  already  said,  Darlington  and  Barnard  Castle  furnished  the  base  for  the  prosecution 
of  Hull's  North- Western  Mission.  The  immediate  fruits  of  this  mission  are  seen  in  the 
inclusion  of  Hoxham  and  Carlisle  in  the  Sunderland  District,  at  its  formation  in  1824, 
and,  by  1842,  in  the  addition  of  Westgate,  Alston,  and  Whitehaven  to  its  roll  of  stations. 
This  mission  was  already  being  vigorously  carried  on  when  the  large  towns  on  the  Tyne 

*Mr.  Toulmin  became  proprietor  of  the  Preston  Guardian,  and  other  Journals,  member  of  the 
Town  Council  and  Borough  Magistrate,  and  his  son,  who  also  is  an  ardent  temperance  man,  is  the 
Member  for  Bury  in  thejpresent  Parliament. 


130  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

and  Wear  were  entered.  Naturally,  this  is  just  what  from  geographical  considerations 
one  would  expect  to  find;  since  Darlington  lies  on  the  great  North  Road,  and,  from 
time  immemorial,  travellers  have  taken  Darlington  on  their  way  to  Newcastle  and 
Berwick.  Though,  therefore,  neither  Darlington  nor  Barnard  Castle  is  among  the 
primary  circuits  of  the  Sunderland  District,  we  still  must,  for  reasons  both  chronological 
and  geographical,  glance  at  the  introduction  of  Primitive  Methodism  into  these  Durham 
towns,  and  the  lines  of  evangelisation  that  went  out  from  them,  before  looking  at  "  the 
Northern  Mission,"  which,  strictly  speaking,  did  not  begin  until  March,  1822. 

This  section  of  our  history  is  not  without  its  obscurities  and  difficulties,  largely 
created,  one  cannot  but  think,  by  the  method  followed  by  W.  Clowes  in  his  published 
Journals.  That  method  was  not  rigidly  to  adhere  to  the  chronological  order  in  his 
narrative  of  events,  but  to  group  together  incidents  which  occurred  on  his  various  visits 
to  the  same  place.  Little  harm  need  have  resulted  from  this  method  of  grouping  had 
the  dates  of  these  various  visits  also  been  given ;  but  often  dates  are  wanting,  and  hence 
the  difficulties  which  have  led  some  previous  writers  astray.  Fortunately,  as  in  the  case 
of  Darlington,  Newcastle,  and  South  Shields,  the  Journals  and  memoirs  published  in  the 
contemporary  Magazines  furnish  us  with  a  clue  to  guide  us  on  our  way  with  some 
degree  of  confidence.  It  was  needful  to  say  thus  much,  in  order  that  the  occasional 
variations  between  our  narrative  and  preceding  ones  may  be  prepared  for  and  explained 
beforehand. 

As  the  wind  carries  the  seed  in  its  fairy  parachute,  so  the  breeze  of  rumour  had  much 
to  do  with  disseminating  Primitive  Methodism.  The  "  fame  "  of  the  missionaries  went 
through  the  countryside,  bringing  men  or  missives  asking  for  a  missionary  to  be  sent 
to  other  ground.  That  is  how  Primitive  Methodism  got  here'  and  there  in  the  county  of 
Durham,  as  elsewhere.  William  Young,  whom  we  take  to  have  been  at  the  time  an 
earnest  Wesleyan,  had  heard  of  the  stirring  doings  at  Knaresborough,  and  sent  Clowes 
a  pressing  invitation  to  visit  Ingleton  eight  miles  from  Darlington.  Our  reading  of  the 
available  evidence  is  that  the  visit  was  duly  paid  on  Sunday,  June  4th,  1820.  From 
the  Bipon  branch,  Clowes  made  his  way  to  Darlington.  Here 
his  coming  may  have  been  prepared  for  and  welcomed ;  for,  from 
the  memoir  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Clewer,  we  learn  that,  after  his 
marriage  in  1820,  he  removed  to  Darlington,  laboured  as  a  local 
preacher,  and  "  rendered  great  help  towards  establishing  the  infant 
cause."  So  well  did  he  acquit  himself  that  it  was  felt  he  was 
fitted  for  a  wider  sphere,  and  in  1822,  Jonathan  Clewer  began 
his  labours  at  Tadcaster,  and  continued  them  until  his  super- 
annuation in  1851.  Whether,  on  June  4th,  Jonathan  Clewer 
had  already  begun  his  useful  labours  in  Darlington,  we  cannot  be 
sure,  but  on  that  Sunday  W.  Clowes  took  his  stand  in  North- 

K K \  .   J .    CL K \\  r.  1\ . 

gate  and  preached.  The  situation  selected  was  not  without 
its  significance.  The  street  is  part  of  the  great  North  Road  leading  on  to  Durham,  and 
in  a  house  in  this  street,  not  far  from  Buhner's  Stone  and  the  new  Technical  College, 
Edward  'Pease  lived,  and  in  a  room  in  this  house  occurred  a  memorable  interview 
between  George  Stephenson,  Nicholas  Wood,  and  Edward  Pease,  which  resulted  in  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PKEDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


131 


construction  of  the  first  railway — the  Stockton  and  Darlington  line.  After  preaching 
he  went  to  Ingleton,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  Messrs.  Emerson  and  Young.  They 
sang  through  the  streets,  Mr.  Clowes  giving  an  exhortation,  and  then  a  prayer  meeting 
was  held  in  Mr.  Young's  house.  We  take  it,  that  before  July  16th  (when  Clowes  went 
on  the  Hutton  Rudby  Mission)  two  Sundays  more  were  divided  between  Darlington 
and  Ingleton.  On  one  of  these  Sundays  he  preached  at  Darlington  twice,  having  for 
his  second  congregation  a  thousand  people,  and  then  walked  to  Ingleton,  where  he  also 
preached  and  led  the  class !  On  the  other  Sunday  he  preached  in  Bondgate,  and  the 
same  evening  renewed  tickets  to  twenty  members  at  Ingleton.  During  this  visit  he 
preached  more  than  once  at  Cockfield,  and  formed  a  society  of  four  members  at 
Evenwood.  With  Jonathan  Clewer  already,  or  soon  to  be,  at  Darlington,  with  Messrs. 


BULMER'S  STONE  IN  EDWARD  PEASE'S  TIME  LYING  IN  FRONT  OF  THE 
OLD  COTTAGES,  NORTHGATE. 

Emerson  and  Young  steady  adherents  of  the  cause,  and  some  twenty  members  at 
Ingleton,  and  with  a  small  society  at  Evenwood,  we  have  already  the  beginning  of 
a  branch  in  these  parts;  and  so,  May  6th,  1821,  Samuel  Laister  began  his  labours  in 
Darlington  Branch,  and  continued  them  unremittingly  until  his  lamented  death  on 
Christmas  Day  of  the  same  year.  At  first,  he  could  not  but  feel  the  contrast  between 
the  congregations  he  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the  West  Riding,  and  the  feeble  cause 
he  found  in  the  Quaker  town.  Speedily,  however,  the  prospect  brightened,  and  it 
"  begins  to  remind  him  of  the  branch  he  has  left." 

The  missionaries  preached  at  places  as  far  removed  as  Wolsingham  and  Stockton-on- 
Tees.     The  former  wras  visited  in  response  to  an  appeal  personally  made  by  Mr.  W. 

12 


132  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

Snowball  and  two  others  who,  having  heard  of  the  work  being  done  in  South  Durham, 
came  over  to  Cockfield  to  see  Mr.  Laister.  Mr.  Snowball  lived  to  become  the  Steward 
of  the  Wolsingham  or  Crook  Circuit,  as  it  afterwards  got  to  be  called,  and  from  1821 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  his  house  was  always  open  to  the  ministers  of  the  Connexion. 
In  a  similar  way,  Mr.  Laister  was  invited  to  Witton-le-Wear  by  Messrs.  Littlefair  and 
Pyburn.  Stockton  was  visited  as  early  as  May  13th,  by  S.  Laister,  who  writes  in  his 
Journal:  "I  spoke  at  Stockton:  a  cold,  hard  place.  No  Society."  .By  March,  1822, 
Stockton  and  the  places  thereabout  were  formed  into  Hull's  "  Stockton  Mission,"  and 
reported  seventy  members.  Later,  we  shall  find  it  formed  the  southern  part  of  the 
Sunderland  and  Stockton  Union  Circuit. 

Meanwhile,  Darlington  itself — then  a  small  town  of  some  5,750  inhabitants — was  not 
overlooked.  The  society  grew  in  numbers,  and  likewise,  it  would  seem,  in  public 
favour,  which  has  never  been  wanting  in  this  town  of  progressive  ideas.  This  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that,  as  early  as  October  16th,  the  foundation  of  the  Queen 
Street  Chapel  was  laid.  At  first,  Mr.  Laister  and  his  colleague,  TV.  Evans,  preached 
in  the  market-place,  then  a  room  in  Tubwell  Row  was  taken,  and  afterwards  services 
were  held  in  the  Assembly  Room  of  the  Sun  Inn,  at  the  corner  of  Northgate,  where 
most  of  the  important  meetings  of  the  town  were  then  held.  But  even  this  room  soon 
became  too  small,  and  the  young  society  found  itself  committed  to  chapel-building. 

Darlingtonian  Primitives  should  do  their  best  to  keep  green  the  memory  of  Samuel 
Laister,  who  died  in  their  midst,  probably  a  martyr  to  excessive  toil.  As  a  pioneer 
worker,  he  did  much  for  Primitive  Methodism  in  various  parts,  as  our  narrative  has 
shown.  S.  Laister  was  not  spared  to  see  the  opening  of  Queen  Street  Chapel  on  March 
3rd,  1822,  when,  according  to  Sykes'  "  Local  Records,"  one  thousand  persons  were  present, 
and  a  collection  amounting  to  £17  2s.  taken.  The  preacher  on  the  occasion  was 
W.  Clowes,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the  Darlington  Branch  in  January.  But  while 
Mr.  Clowes  pleached  in  the  chapel,  F.  N.  Jersey  had  an  overflow  congregation  of  two 
hundred  persons  outside  the  building  which,  until  the  erection  of  Greenbank  Chapel  in 
1879,  under  the  superintendency  of  Rev.  Hugh  Gilmore,  was  to  serve  as  the  head  of 
the  Darlington  Circuit.  Mr.  Clowes'  station  in  Darlington  was  a  short  one,  amounting 
to  not  more  than  eight  Sundays,  three  of  which  were  devoted  to  an  evangelistic 
excursion  to  North  Shields,  which  will  shortly  engage  our  attention.  "  My  appoint- 
ments in  the  Darlington  Branch,"  says  Mr.  Clowes,  "  were  filled  up  while  I  was  away,  by 
F.  N.  Jersey,  a  sailor,  who  undertook  to  travel  with  me  one  quarter  for  nothing,  that  he 
might  have  my  company.  He,  however,  had  but  little  of  it,  for  I  left  him,  and  made 
this  excursion  to  North  Shields,  and  it  has  not  been  in  vain."  From  first  to  last, 
Clowes  gave  three  Sundays  to  Darlington  town,  including  the  Sunday  of  the  chapel- 
opening.  One  of  the  remaining  Sundays  was  devoted  to  Bishop  Auckland,  where,  as 
was  usual  where  Clowes  was,  something  happened.  This  time  it  was  a  mishap.  The 
props  that  supported  the  upper  room  in  which  the  service  was  being  held,  being 
somewhat  decayed,  gave  way,  to  the  alarm  of  many  though,  providentially,  to  the  hurt 
of  none.  The  other  available  Sunday  was  given  to  Barnard  Castle,  February  24th, 
where  he  found  a  society  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  had  been  raised  up. 

From  this  time  Barnard  Castle  becomes  an  advanced  post — a  fresh  base  for  extensive 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


133 


-^REENBANK) 


134  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

missionary  effort.  Our  attention  must  therefore  be  directed  to  this  old-world  town 
which  has  so  much  of  interest,  both  for  the  lover  of  the  antique  and  the  lover  of  nature 
in  her  fairest  aspects.  How  did  we  secure  a  footing  in  Barnard  Castle  ? 

While  the  Darlington  friends  Avere  full  of  their  new  chapel  project,  and  discussions 
on  plans  and  specifications  and  ways  and  means  were  rife,  Samuel  Laister  "  thought  they 
would  make  a  push  to  take  Barnard  Castle."  As  usual,  invitations  had  come,  and  Bro. 
W.  Evans,  a  good  prospector,*  was  commissioned  "  to  see  what  kind  of  an  opening  there 
was."  He  therefore  went  and  preached  in  the  market-place,  and  announced  that  S.  Laister 
would  follow  a  fortnight  after ;  accordingly  on  a  day  in  late  August,  S.  Laister  went  to 
Barnard  Castle  and  "  spoke  to  many  hundreds  of  well-behaved  people,"  and  formed 
a  society  of  nine  members.  In  two  months  the  nine  had'  increased  to  eighty,  and  in 
four  months,  as  we  have  seen,  the  number  had  risen  to  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

We  may  here  conveniently  add  a  few  further  particulars  as  to  the  town  of  Barnard 
Castle's  after  history  kindly  supplied  by  Rev.  B.  Wild.  "The  Society  first  worshipped 
in  a  room  in  Thorngate,  but  afterwards  removed  into  the  Gray  Lane.  In  1822, 
a  Mr.  Hempson  was  stationed  here,  who  by  his  indiscretions  caused  a  division  in  the 
fold  which  considerably  reduced  the  membership.  Mr.  W.  Summersides  was  sent  to 
superintend  the  Circuit  in  1828,  and  under  his  ministry  the  numbers  increased.  The 
erection  of  a  chapel  now  began  to  be  discussed,  and  preparations  for  the  building  were 
forthwith  commenced.  1829  saw  the  consummation  of  the  work  begun  in  1828,  and 
the  chapel  was  opened  by  the  Revs.  W.  Sanderson,  G.  Cosens,  and  J.  Flesher,  then  the 
superintendent  of  the  Circuit.  In  1836,  the  side-galleries  were  put  in,  and  in  1851, 
the  vestry  adjoining  the  chapel  was  built." 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Clowes  left  the  Darlington  Branch,  Barnard  Castle  was  separated 
from  Darlington  and  formed  into  a  new  branch  called  "The  Barnard  Castle  and 
Wolsingham  Branch  of  Hull  Circuit."  On  the  18th  March,  Clowes  left  for  the  North 
Mission  which  Hull  Circuit  had  agreed  to  take  over  from  Hutton  Eudby.  Clowes,  as 
the  leading  missionary,  went  on  in  advance,  and  was  speedily  followed  by  the  brothers 
Nelson.  F.  N.  Jersey  had  already  opened  Crook  (January  30th),  and  formed  a  society 
and  the  very  day  Clowes  left  for  the  North,  Jersey  preached  at  Stanhope,  it  being 
"a  fine  starlight  night."  We  also  find  him  at  Satley  and  Shotley  Bridge.  These 
references  are  significant  as  to  the  degree  and  direction  in  which  the  work  was  spreading. 
Still  more  significant  is  the  fact  that  Clowes,  on  his  way  to  North  Shields,  called  at 
Wolsingham  and  Barnard  Castle,  evidently  to  oversee  the  North- Western  Mission. 
He  visited  Satley  "on  the  hills,"  Stanhope,  where  he  found  seventeen  members, 
Hamsterley,  Barnard  Castle,  and  other  places,  and  "  directing  Bro.  Jersey  to  take  up 
Westgate  "  he  went  on  to  his  own  special  field.  Westgate  'will  soon  be  taken,  but 
scarcely  by  F.  N.  Jersey,  as  he  left  almost  immediately  after  for  Silsden,  where  we 
have  already  seen  him  hard  at  work. 

From  a  minute  in  an  old  Barnard  Castle  Circuit-book  it  would  almost  seem  as  though 
Shotley  Bridge  had  itself  become  a  kind  of  sub-branch  as  early  as  1822.  The  minute  in 
question  says :  "  That  if  Shotley  Bridge  does  not  see  its  way  clear  to  send  a  missionary 
to  Hexham  during  the  next  quarter,  we  will  send  one."  This  minute  confirms  the 

*  See  ante  vol.  ii.  p.  86. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


135 


interesting  account  already  given  by  Mr.  Petty,  of  the  way  in  which  Primitive  Methodism 
was  introduced  into  Hexham.  As  the  account  is  circumstantial  and  evidently  based  on 
first-hand  information,  we  reproduce  it  here,  simply  suggesting  that  by  Weardale  we  are 
probably  to  understand  the  lower  part  of  the  dale. 

"A  native  of  this  town  [Hexham]  had  been  employed  in  his  secular  calling  in 
Weardale,  and,  on  visiting  his  parents  at  Hexham,  he  gave  exciting  accounts  of 

the  introduction  of  Primi- 
tive Methodism  into  that 
dale,  and  of  the  zealous 
and  successful  labours  of 
the  missionaries.  His 
statements,  together  with 
the  hymns  and  tunes  he 
sang,  excited  considerable 
interest  among  his  friends 
and  acquaintances,  many 
of  whom  expressed  a  desire 
to  hear  the  preachers  of 
this  new  denomination. 
And  a  Mr.  John  Gibson 
attended  their  religious 
services  in  connection 
with  the  opening  of 
the  Butchers'  Hall,  in 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  on 
October  20th,  1822,  and 
invited  the  preachers  to 
Hexham.  As  the  preachers 
of  Newcastle  could  not 
comply  with  his  request, 
he  applied  to  Shotley 
Bridge,  in  Barnard  Castle 
branch,  and  a  preacher 
from  that  town  visited 
Hexham  on  the  26th  of 
the  same  month.  A  place 
was  provided  for  preach- 
ing, and  a  society  of  five 
members  was  formed  in 
the  evening.  The  bellman 
was  sent  through  the  town 

to  announce  that  a  Primitive  Methodist  Missionary  would  preach  in  the  Old  Kiln, 
on  the  Battle  Hill,  the  following  day.  The  excitement  this  announcement  pro- 
duced was  very  great,  and  long  before  the  time  appointed  for  the  service  to 
commence  the  Old  Kiln  was  crowded.  The  services  of  the  day  were  very  powerful ; 
the  missionary  preached  with  '  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  Heaven ' ;  many 
stout-hearted  sinners  trembled,  and  five  more  persons  united  with  the  infant  cause. 
The  Old  Kiln  was  speedily  fitted  up  so  as  to  make  it  more  convenient  for  public 
worship ;  and  despite  serious  persecutions,  bricks  and  stones  being  often  thrown 


BATTLE   HILL,    HEXHAM. 

The  old  Malt  Kiln  was  entered  through  an  opening  on  the  left  at  the 
top  of  the  street. 


136  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

by  the  ungodly,  the  good  work  continued  to  prosper,  and  many  souls  were  turned 
to  the  Lord."  « 

Hexham  Circuit  comprised  a  goodly  portion  of  South- Western  Northumberland. 
The  fact,  thus  barely  stated,  is  quite  enough  to  show  that  Hexham  must  have  been  one 
of  the  widest  circuits  in  the  Connexion,  and  when  the  characteristic  physical  features  of 
this  border  district  are  recalled,  one  can  readily  understand  that  the  circuit  was  wild 
and  toilsome  as  well  as  wide.  Such  it  was  even  in  1842,  when  the  late  C.  C.  McKechnie 
was  one  of  its  ministers.  He  had  already  travelled  in  the  Ripon  and  Brompton  Circuits, 
but  neither  of  these  in  respect  to  width  and  wildness  could  stand  comparison  with 
Hexham,  though  Ripon  was  thirty-one  miles  by  thirty,  and  Brompton  was  not  much 
less  in  area,  seeing  that  it  took  in  the  greater  part  of  Cleveland.  In  1842,  Hexham 
Circuit  stretched  from  Rothbury  on  the  north  to  the  borders  of  Allendale  and  to 
Derwent  Head  on  the  south,  and  from  Greenhead  on  the  west  to  Corbridge  on  the  oast. 
There  had,  however,  been  a  time  in  its  history  when  the  circuit  covered  even  more 
ground  than  this ;  for  Blaydon  and  Shotley  Bridge,  Wickham  and  Swalwell,  are  on  its 
plan  of  1826.  These  and  other  places  seem  to  have  been  grouped  together  to  form 
the  forgotten  circuit  of  Winlaton,  which  stands  on  the  Conference  Minutes  from 
1827  to  1829  inclusive.  After  this  date,  these  places  were  taken  over  for  a  time 
by  Newcastle,  so  that  with  the  extinction  of  Winlaton  as  a  sort  of  buffer  circuit, 
Hexham  again  joined  hands  with  Newcastle.  In  missionary  enterprise,  too,  Hexham 
Circuit  played  no  mean  part  in  the  early  days,  having  at  one  time,  as  Rev.  J.  Lightfoot 
tells  us,  employed  and  sustained  three  missions — Morpeth,  Rothbury,  and  Jedburgh,  in 
Roxburghshire.  It  was  very  largely  through  the  influence  of  Squire  Shafto,  of 
Bavington — of  whom  we  shall  have  to  speak— that  the  Rothbury  Mission  was  begun. 
John  Coulson  secured  Joseph  Spoor  as  the  first  missionary  to  "  break  up "  this  new 
ground.  It  was  a  rough  beginning  even  for  this  muscular  and  intrepid  Tynesider.  So 
hard  and  apparently  unproductive  did  he  find  the  soil,  that  he  lost  heart,  and  one  day 
took  the  road  homeward,  in  a  mood  like  that  of  Elijah  when  he  fled  from  Jezebel ;  but 
as  he  sat  under  his  juniper  tree,  thinking,  he  took  heart  again  and  resolved  to  go  back 
to  his  work.  It  was  during  this  mission  also  that  Spoor  had  his  memorable  encounter 
in  Morpeth  market-place  with  Billy  Purvis,  the  once-time  famous  Newcastle  showman. 
When  the  tug-of-war  between  the  showman  with  his  drum  and  horn,  and  Spoor  with 
his  praying  and  singing,  had  ended  in  a  victory  for  the  latter,  Purvis  shouted  a  parting 
salute  through  his  speaking-trumpet :  "  Ah  war'n  thou  think's  thysel  a  clever  fellow 
noo ! "  However  brought  about,  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Connexion  has  little  to 
show  for  its  early  toils  in  Upper  Coquetdale.  It  is  true  that  in  later  years  extension 
has  taken  place  in  North-Eastern  Northumberland,  but  we  have  lost  hold  of  the  less 
populous  and  more  rugged  interior  of  the  county. 

When,  in  1824,  Hexham  appeared  as  one  of  the  circuits  of  the  newly-formed 
Sunderland  District,  it  abutted  on  Carlisle  Circuit,  which  also  formed  one  of  the  first 
circuits  of  the  district.  Therefore,  in  following  the  trend  of  evangelisation,  we  have 
now  to  inquire  how  we  came  to  get  a  footing  in  Carlisle.  The  story  cannot  be  told 

*  (pp.  186-7). 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  137 

without  reference  to  a  special  independent  mission,  which  Hull  Circuit  began  in  May, 
1822,  when,  acting  upon  instructions  from  head-quarters,  F.  N.  Jersey  set  out  from 
Silsden  on  a  mission  to  Kendal,  in  Westmoreland,  and  its  neighbourhood.  This 
mission  concerns  us  here  chiefly  because  one  of  its  indirect  results  was  the  establishment 
of  a  cause  in  Carlisle,  and  also,  secondarily,  because  of  the  fierce  persecution  the 
missionary  met  with  in  prosecuting  his  mission.  Jersey  laboured  hard,  and  not 
altogether  in  vain.  Many  of  the  people  heard  him  gladly — one  good  Quaker  at 
Sedburgh  saying  :  "  The  days  of  John  Wesley  are  come  again."  An  aged  woman,  near 
Kendal,  who  had  received  spiritual  benefit,  was  so  delighted  with  the  small  hymn-book 
she  had  got,  that  she  walked  to  Carlisle,  some  forty-four  miles,  to  show  her  treasure  to 
her  relative,  Mr.  Boothman,  and  to  tell  him  of  that  other  treasure  of  inward  peace  she 
had  gained.  Mr.  Boothman  was  deeply  interested  in  what  was  told  him.  He  was 
evidently  another  of  those  "  Revivalists " — sympathisers  with  aggressive  Christian 
work — who  welcomed  our  advent  into  their  neighbourhood.  He  requested  his  son-in- 
law,  Mr.  Johnson,  to  accompany  his  aunt  to  Kendal  and  make  full  inquiry  as  to  the 
doctrines,  polity,  and  practice  of  the  new  community.  Mr.  Johnson  returned,  well 
satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  inquiries,  and  bearing  a  copy  of  the  rules  of  the  society. 
The  issue  was  that  these  two  resolved  to  apply  for  a  missionary ;  open-air  preaching  was 
at  once  begun,  and  a  society  formed.  Such  was  the  link  of  connection  between  the 
Kendal  Mission  and  the  establishment  of  our  cause  in  Carlisle.  At  this  point  we  return 
for  a  moment  to  follow  F.  X.  Jersey,  who  from  Kendal  went  in  March,  1823,  to  open 
Ulverstone,  Broughton,  Dalton,  and  other  places  in  the  Furness  district.  Here  the 
ground  was  flintier  than  at  Kendal.  At  Ulverstone  he  thus  bemoans  himself  :  "  What 
a  hardened,  wretched  place  I  am  stationed  in  ! "  At  Dalton  he  writes :  "  This  is  the 
hardest  place  that  ever  I  was  in.  In  this  town  they  have  a  market  every  Sunday, 
during  the  harvest,  for  the  purpose  of  hiring,  and  fight  and  get  drunk."  While  holding 
a  service  at  the  Market  Cross  at  Dalton,  he  was  called  upon  to  face  a  storm  worse  than 
any  he  had  met  with  at  sea.  Three  horns  and  a  watchman's  rattle  made  a  din  in  his 
ears  while  he  tried  to  sing  and  pray,  and  then  he  sprang  from  his  knees  and  shouted  : 
"  Glory  to  Jesus  !  I  can  praise  Thee  amidst  all  the  din  of  hell."  The  end  of  it  was, 
that  he  was  haled  before  two  magistrates  and  committed  to  Lancaster  Castle  for  four 
months.  The  sentence  heard,  he  was  leaving  the  room  when  the  lawyer  said : 
"Mr.  Jersey,  remember  you'll  have  to  pay  all  your  expenses  to  Lancaster  Castle." 
"Indeed,  sir,"  replied  Jersey,  "I'm  very  glad  of  that,  because  if  that  be  the  case  I  shall 
never  get  there,  for  I'll  never  pay  a  farthing."  "Well,"  said  the  man  of  law,  "that 
will  not  keep  you  out  of  the  castle.  We  will  get  you  there."  When  he  was  lying  in 
the  castle,  like  the  veriest  rogue  and  vagabond,  Mr.  G.  Herod,  who  was  then  labouring 
in  the  town,  showed  him  no  little  kindness,  and  was  allowed  to  take  him  food.  One 
old  lady,  good  soul !  took  the  prisoner  a  pillow.  We  think  we  can  see  her  on  "  kindly 
offices  intent,"  wending  her  way  with  the  precious  burden  under  her  arm.  Jersey,  how- 
ever, did  not  serve  out  his  full  time  :  on  receiving  instructions  from  the  Hull  authorities, 
who  were  much  concerned  at  the  incident,  he  at  last  consented  to  give  bail,  and  was 
liberated  after  eighteen  days'  confinement.  He  preached  that  night  at  Lancaster,  next 
day  went  on  to  Kendal,  and  the  day  after  called  at  Ulverstone  to  "  see  after  his  little 


138  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

flock."  Soon  we  shall  find  him  taking  part  in  the  great  revival  in  Weardale.  Peace 
to  F.  N.  Jersey's  memory  !  He  was  a  capital  evangelist,  but  a  poor  administrator. 
Rough  mission-work  he  did  well ;  but  he  was  ill-adapted  to  govern  a  large  circuit  like 
Nottingham,  to  which  he  was  sent  in  1834.  Trouble  overtook  him.  His  peace  was 
disturbed,  and  his  usefulness  dwindled.  He  became  a  Baptist  minister,  and  finally 
emigrated  to  America.  As  for  Kendal  Mission,  though  in  1823  it  reported  one  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  members,  it  was  for  a  time  abandoned,  probably  because  its  retention 
was  found  to  be  financially  burdensome.  Rev.  R.  Cordingley,  however,  recommenced 
the  mission  in  1829.  Penrith  was  taken  up  as  a  mission  by  Hull,  and  united  to  Kendal 
in  1831.  Afterwards  Kendal  became  a  mission  of  Barnard  Castle  Circuit,  and  so 
continued  until  it  attained  circuit  independence  in  1857,  while  Penrith  became  a  branch 
of  Alston,  until  it,  too,  became  a  circuit  in  1876.  After  all  its  vicissitudes,  Kendal 
Mission  was  privileged  to  rear  and  become  the  training-ground  of  John  Taylor  and  his 
fellow-apprentice,  and  almost  foster-brother,  John  Atkinson,  who  was  destined  to  be  one 
of  the  men  of  ^mark  and  likelihood '  of  the  middle  and  later  periods  of  the  Connexion's 
history.  John  Atkinson  was  converted  under  a  sermon  preached  at  Staveley  by  Edward 
Almond  in  1851.  He  soon  came  on  the  plan,  and  was  engaged  in  preaching  almost 
every  Sunday,  sometimes  walking  thirty  miles  to  a  single  appointment.  He  entered  the 
ministry  in  1855,  and  the  first  four  years  of  that  ministry  were  spent  in  the  Shotley 
Bridge  and  Wolsingham  Circuits,  that  owed  their  origin  to  Hull's  North- Western 
Mission.  Rev.  C.  C.  McKechnie  was  John  Atkinson's  superintendent  at  Wolsingham, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  their  very  first  interview  he  was  struck  Avith 
his  "uncommon  force  of  mind/'  and  already  discerned  that  there  were  "intellectual 
potentialities  in  him  such  as  he  had  rarely  met  with." 

Returning  to  Carlisle :  Some  few  weeks  after  a  missionary  had  been  applied  for, 
Mr.  Clowes  made  his  way  across  the  country  from  the  North  Mission  and  began 
a  month's  successful  labours  in  Carlisle  and  places  adjacent  thereto.  His  first  services 
were  held  at  Brampton  on  November  1st,  1822,  where  the  house  of  Mr.  William 
Lawson — our  Connexional  pioneer  in  Canada — was  placed  at  his  disposal  for  the 
holding  of  a  prayer  meeting.*  Here  also  resided  John  and  Nancy  Maughan,  "distin- 
guished and  never-failing  friends  of  the  cause."  At  the  time  of  their  death,  in  1831, 
Mrs.  Boothman  and  Mrs.  Maughan  are  spoken  of  as  being  the  oldest  members  in  the 
Carlisle  Circuit.  On  examination,  Clowes  found  fifty-five  adherents  at  Carlisle  and 
twenty-five  at  Brampton.  He  organised  the  societies,  appointing  leaders  and  other 
officers,  and  formed  a  small  society  at  Little  Corby.  The  services  at  Carlisle  were  held 
in  Mr.  Boothman's  hat-warehouse.  A  burlesque  advertisement  inserted  in  the  local 
newspaper  apprising  the  public  "that  a  collection  would  be  made  to  support  some 
fellows  who  had  gone  mad,  like  the  Prince  of  Denmark,"  drew  a  large  and  disorderly 
multitude  together ;  but  lampoons  were  as  ineffectual  as  Mrs.  Partington's  mop  to  stay 
the  progress  of  the  work.  Nor  did  Mr.  Clowes  limit  his  labours  to  the  holding  of 
public  religious  services,  but  he  and  Mr.  Johnson,  before  mentioned,  visited  in  the  city 
from  house  to  house.  Few  men  could  do  so  much  work  in  little  time  as  Mr.  Clowes, 

*  For  portrait  and  further  reference  see  vol.  i.  p.  438. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  139 

and  when,  on  December  3rd,  he  set  out,  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  to  attend  the 
Hull  Quarterly  Meeting,  he  penned  certain  reflections  which  show  that  his  month's 
mission  in  Cumberland  had,  as  usual,  been  productive.  "The  ground,"  he  writes, 
"  is  all  broken  up  between  Hull  and  Carlisle.  Where  it  will  go  to  next  I  cannot 
tell.  .  .  .  During  this  quarter  the  ground  has  been  broken  up  from  Newcastle 
to  Carlisle.  Our  circuit  extends  from  Carlisle  in  Cumberland  to  Spurn  Point  in 
Holderness,  an  extent  of  more  than  two  hundred  mile^.  What  is  the  breadth  of  the 
circuit  I  cannot  tell ;  it  branches  off  various  ways.  From  Carlisle  the  work  seems  to 
be  opening  two  ways ;  one  to  Whitehaven,  the  other  to  Gretna  Green  in  Scotland." 

From  this  point  the  progress  made  by  Carlisle  Mission— soon  made  into  a  branch — 
was  so  steady  and  encouraging  as  to  justify  its  being  made  into  a  circuit.  This  was 
done  in  December,  1823,  and  in  1824  Carlisle  duly  appeared  on  the  list  of  the  stations 
of  the  newly-formed  Sunderland  District.  Thus,  in  1824,  the  Carlisle  and  Hexham 
Circuits  abutted  on  each  other,  as  did  also  Hexham  and  Newcastle.  In  the  Magazine 
for  March,  1825,  we  find  a  communication,  signed  J.  B.  [John  Branfoot]  and  J.  J. 
[James  Johnson?],  Sec.,  still  reporting  progress,  financial  and  numerical,  in  the  most 
northerly  circuit  of  the  Connexion.  "That  part  of  our  circuit,"  the  communique  goes 
on  to  say,  "  is  doing  particularly  well  which  lies  on  the  Scottish  borders.  We  preach 
at  two  or  three  places  within  two  or  three  miles  of  Scotland.  On  these  the  cloud  of 
God's  presence  particularly  rests,  and  it  appears  a*  if  it  would  move  into  Scotland.  But 
this  is  with  the  Lord.  However,  some  who  out  of  Scotland  have  come  to  hear,  are 
saying,  '  Come  over  and  help  us.'  Others  of  them  who  have  got  converted  among  us, 
and  have  joined  us,  are  saying,  '  Oh,  that  you  would  visit  our  native  land.' " 

It  was  not  long  before  the  cloudy  pillar  did  move  Scotland  way.  Three  months 
after  Messrs.  Oliver  and  Clewer  walked  from  Sunderland  to  open  their  mission  in 
Edinburgh,  Carlisle  Circuit,  whose  superintendent  was  then  John  Coulson,  sent  James 
Johnson — whom  we  take  to  have  been  the  Mr.  Johnson  already  several  times  referred 
to — to  begin  a  mission  in  Glasgow,  July  13th,  1826.  Open-air  services  were  held  in 
various  "  conspicuous  places  "  in  the  big  city,  and  by  October  one  hundred  persons  had 
united  in  Church  fellowship,  and  a  preaching-room,  capable  of  accommodating  seven 
hundred  persons,  had  been  secured.  The  mission,  thus  unobtrusively  begun  in  the 
commercial  capital  of  Scotland,  seems  to  have  made  quiet  headway,  and  to  have  been 
largely  self-sustaining.  Glasgow  appears  on  the  stations  of  the  Sunderland  District  for 
the  first  time  in  1829.  Glasgow  soon  in  its  turn  established  a  cause  in  Paisley,  and, 
ere  long,  a  room  connected  with  the  old  Abbey  Buildings,  called  the  Philosophical  Hall, 
was  taken  for  services,  and  a  minister  was  resident  in  the  town.  Though  Paisley  was 
attached  to  Glasgow  Circuit,  and  received  considerable  help  therefrom,  it  would  seem 
that  Carlisle  had  a  hand  in  the  development,  if  not  in  the  first  establishment,  of  our 
cause  in  Paisley,  since  the  Rev.  John  Lightfoot,  writing  as  the  superintendent  of 
Carlisle  in  1831,  observes  :  "The  circuit  considerably  improved  in  its  finances,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  send  a  missionary  to  Paisley." 

In  the  year  1834  there  was  a  youth  living  at  Paisley  who  is  of  some  account  to  this 
history.  The  names  he  bore — Colin  Campbell  McKechnie — betokened  the  Highland 
clan  to  which  he  belonged.  His  eldest  brother,  Daniel,  had  been  converted  amongst 


RKV.  C'.  C.  MCKECHXIE. 


140  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

the  Primitives,  and  was  a  sort  of  factotum  in  the  little  church — leader,  local  preacher, 
steward,  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  what  not.  But  Daniel  had  now 
a  home  of  his  own,  and  the  McKechnies  were  nominally,  at  any  rate,  adherents  of  the 
Kirk.  But,  )  robably  through  his  brother's  agency,  Bella  McNair 
was  servant  in  the  household,  and  in  the  providence  of  God 
she  was  used  to  attach  this  youth,  whom  high  destinies  awaited, 
to  Primitive  Methodism.  If  it  be  asked  how  this  was  done, 
we  answer:  the  small  hymn-book  was  a  chief  factor  in  the 
process.  The  early  hymns  were  a  powerful  instrument  of  propa- 
gandism — all  the  more  powerful  because,  as  in  this  case,  it  could 
be  employed  in  cottage  or  workshop  as  well  as  on  village-green 
or  market-place.  That  Mr.  McKechnie  was  sung  into  the  kingdom 
seems  hardly  too  strong  a  way  of  putting  it,  if  we  may  judge  by 
his  own  words  : — 

"  Bella  McNair  was  a  thorough  Primitive,  devout,  zealous,  and  with  an  excellent 
voice  for  singing,  which  she  freely  used.  Aware  of  her  rare  gift  of  song,  and  of 
its  power  as  an  instrument  of  usefulness,  she  often — I  might  almost  say — she 
incessantly,  used  it  in  singing  the  charming  hymns  so  commonly  sung  by  our 
people  in  those  days.  Some  of  them  were  very  touching,  so  at  least  I  thought  and 
felt.  They  acted  upon  my  religious  nature  like  the  quickening  influence  of  spring> 
and  evoked  in  my  heart  strong  yearnings  after  God  and  goodness.  I  was  led  to 
talk  to  Bella  about  her  pretty  hymns,  and  the  kirk  to  which  she  belonged,  and  she 
very  warmly  and  earnestly  invited  me  to  the  services." 

When  Colin  went  for  the  first  time  to  Sunday  school  he  was  warmly  received  and 
felt  himself  in  a  new  world.  After  a  mental  struggle,  he  received  the  sense  of  pardon 
and  joined  the  Church.  While  yet  in  his  early  teens  he  was  made  leader  and  local 
preacher,  and  in  the  year  Paisley  became  a  circuit — 1838 — began  his  ministry  at  Ripon, 
where  we  have  already  seen  him.  Those  who  are  interested  in  tracing  the  strange 
interdependence  of  events,  may  see  how  the  aged  woman,  who  carried  the  small  hymn- 
book  from  Kenoal  to  Carlisle,  was  an  essential  link  in  a  "  peculiar  chain  of  providence," 
which  reached  to  Glasgow  and  Paisley,  and  back  again  to  Wdsingham,  where  C.  C. 
McKechnie  and  John  Atkinson  met  as  colleagues  on  ground  won  by  the  North- West 
Mission.  Had  that  link  been  wanting ! — but  it  is  needless  to  speculate.  With  the 
plain  facts  of  history  before  us,  the  Kendal  Mission  can  hardly  be  pronounced  a  failure — 
though  the  history-books  may  say  it  was — since,  as  one  of  its  direct  and  indirect  results, 
two  such  shapers  of  the  old  Sunderland  District  were  brought  together. 

Coming  back  to  the  further  missionary  efforts  put  forth  by  Carlisle  Circuit,  reference 
may  be  made  to  Wigton,  now  the  head  of  a  circuit,  which  was  first  missioned  by  Mary 
Porteus  on  August  5th,  1831.  On  that  date  she  preached  at  the  Market  Cross,  as 
John  Wesley  had  done  before  her.  The  day  before  she  undertook  this  task,  she  had 
read,  at  Bothel,  an  account  of  Wesley's  service  at  the  Cross,  and  the  thought  that  she — 
a  frail  woman — was  about  to  attempt  what  that  great  and  gifted  man  had  done,  pressed 
upon  her  as  she  went  forward  to  discharge  her  trying  duty.  On  September  2nd  she 
took  her  stand  at  the  Cross  again,  but  when  next  she  went,  in  November,  she  found 
some  kind  friend  had  taken  a  large  schoolroom  for  the  services. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PKEDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  14 L 

Even  before  the  close  of  1822,  W.  Clowes  had  noted  that  Primitive  Methodism  was 
tending  in  the  direction  of  Whitehaven.  Shortly  after  this,  Messrs.  Summersides  and 
Johnson  visited  this  town,  thirty-eight  miles  from  Carlisle.  Then  Clowes  himself,  in 
August,  1823,  came  on  the  ground  and  began  a  campaign  in  this  district,  which  lasted 
until  November  9th.  He  visited  Harrington,  Cleator,  Workington,  Parton,  Cockermouth, 
St.  Bees,  and  other  places.  As  usual,  there  was  no  lack  of  incidents  in  this  campaign. 
At  Cleator  an  old  man  who  was  hearing  him,  exclaimed  -.  "  Why,  1  never  heard  such 
a  fool  in  my  life  ! "  The  preacher  retorted  that  the  remark  was  not  original,  for  that 
precisely  the  same  thing  had  been  said  of  Noah  by  people  who  changed  their  mind 
when  the  flood  came ;  but  all  too  late.  At  St.  Bees  he  had  as  one  of  the  fruits  of  his 
mission,  David  Beattie,  a  native  of  Dumfriesshire.  Beattie  did  good  service  as  a  minister 
until  his  lamented  death  in  1839.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  that  small  but 
distinguished  band  which  Scotland  has  furnished  to  our  ministry.  At  this  time,  too, 
a  camp  meeting  was  held  on  Harris  Moor,  near  Whitehaven,  which,  from  being  the 
first  of  its  kind  ever  held  in  the  district,  made  a  stir.  At  this  camp  meeting  a  number 
of  partially  intoxicated  Papists  interrupted  the  service,  whereupon  Clowes  transfixed 
them  with  his  eye,  and  solemnly  warned  them  that,  ere  twenty-four  hours  should  pass, 
many  of  them  might  be  hurried  into  eternity.  And  it  was  so ;  for  by  an  explosion  in 
the  pit.  which  occurred  next  day,  many  of  these  disturbers  lost  their  lives.  This 
startling  event  so  alarmed  Hugh  Campbell,  that  he,  with  others,  was  led  to  join  the 
society.  This  truly  honest  man  began  his  ministerial  labours  at  Hexham  in  1830. 
Another  of  Clowes'  Whitehaven  converts  was  Andrew  Sharpe,  a  man  of  local  note  on 
account  of  his  physical  prowess.  John  Sharpe,  his  grandson,  entered  the  ministry  in 
1848  ;  went  out  to  Australia  in  1855,  where,  until  1876,  he  did  splendid  service.  "He 
was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  strong  Cumbrian  character :  a  splendid  borderer  of  clear  and 
decided  convictions,  held  with  Spartan  firmness ; "  a  man  of  vigorous  and  well-stored 
mind.  After  his  retirement  he  settled  at  Hensingham,  where  he  passed  away,  May 
i>7th,  1895. 

As  Whitehaven  remained  a  branch  of  Hull  Circuit  for  so  many  years,  it  was  from 
time  to  time  privileged  with  the  labours  of  most  of  the  best-known  ministers  of  that 
circuit.  John  Garner  and  John  Oxtoby  were  here  together  during  the  September 
quarter  of  1824.  Despite  the  trouble  caused  by  a  deposed  minister,  who  remained  on 
the  station  after  his  deposition  and  tried  to  foment  mischief,  the  work  still  rolled  on. 
"  NVe  had,"  says  Mr.  Garner,  "  a  great  and  powerful  work,  and  we  took  a  large  church 
to  worship  in  called  Mount  Pleasant  Church."  It  had  been  built  for  the  worship  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  but  its  consecration  being  refused,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Dissenters, 
apparently  not  one  iota  the  worse  for  the  lack.  For  more  than  thirty  years  Mount 
Pleasant  Church  was  used  by  Primitive  Methodists  for  the  purposes  of  public  worship. 

Whitehaven  was  made  an  independent  station  in  1840,  so  that  by  the  end  of  the  first 
period  we  have,  as  the  development  of  the  Kendal,  Carlisle,  and  Whitehaven  Missions, 
the  nucleus  of  the  present  Carlisle  and  Whitehaven  District,  with,  however,  the  addition 
of  Alston,  Brough,  and  Haltwhistle,  these  being  the  outcome  of  Hull's  North- Western 
Mission.  Since  1842,  consolidation  has  gone  on  apace  in  West  Cumberland.  Maryport 
was  made  from  Whitehaven  in  1862,  and  Workington  in  1884;  and  Cockermouth  from 
Maryport  in  1893. 


142 


PKIMITJVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  IN  THE  DALES  :  WESTGATE  AND  ALSTON  MOOR. 
One  is  surprised  to  find  that  in  1832  Westgate  and  Alston  had  actually  more  members 
than  the  Hull  home-branch  itself.  In  a  tabular  report  of  that  year  of  the  various 
branches  of  Hull  Circuit,  "Westgate  and  Alston"  are  credited  with  751  members, 
while  Hull  has  631,  and  Driffield  469.  It  confirms  what  has  already  been  stated  as  to 
Hull's  retention  of  a  branch  long  after  it  was  strong  enough  to  stand  alone.  It  was 
"  a  long  cry  "  from  Westgate  to  Hull,  and  yet  it  is  Hull  Quarterly  Meeting  which,  in 
1831,  by  resolution,  makes  George  Race  and  William  Lonsdale  exhorters  !  Though, 
therefore,  Westgate  and  Alston  were  not  made  circuits  until  1834  and  1835  respectively, 
they  had  long  been  numerically  powerful,  and  not  wanting  in  officials  who  knew  their 
own  mind,  and  had  a  mind  to  know. 

These  two  strong  branches  were  molten  and  cast  in  the  fire  of  a  great  revival — 
a  revival,  take  it  for  all  in  all,  greater  perhaps  than  any  we  have  thus  far  had  to 
chronicle.  And,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  great  revivals  have,  at  ever  recurring 

intervals,  swept  over  Weardale, 
Allendale,  Alston  Moor,  and  Cum- 
berland, one  or  two  of  which  we 
may  glance  at  before  closing  this 
section.  As  insurance  offices  speak 
of  a  "  conflagration  area,"  so  the 
districts  just  named,  and  especially 
the  dales,  may  almost  be  termed  "the 
revival  area."  "  Well,  then,  the 
people  who  inhabit  those  dales  must 
certainly  be  of  a  highly  emotional 
temperament,  easily  stirred  to  excite- 
ment, and  perhaps  just  as  easily 
relapsing  into  indifference."  No, 
WESTGATE  CHAPEL  AND  SCHOOLS.  no ;  the  reader  has  quite  missed 

the  mark;  he  has  not  pierced  the  centre  of  the  sufficient  reason.  Never  was  truer 
word  written  of  the  Northmen,  and  especially  of  the  Dalesmen,  than  that  in  which 
the  Rev.  J.  Wenn  describes  them  as  "  anthracite  in  temperament."  "  Northerners," 
he  continues,  "are  not  exactly  comparable  to  carpenters'  shavings,  soon  alight  and 
quickly  extinguished ;  rather  do  they  resemble  anthracite  in  the  slowness  of  its  com- 
bustion and  the  retention  of  its  heat  .  .  .  capable  of  sustained  religious  fervour 
could  they  but  once  be  kindled."  * 

The  first  great  Weardale  Revival,  alike  in  its  inception  and  progress,  illustrates  the 
truth  of  these  remarks.  It  was  a  work  of  time,  and  a  work  requiring  infinite  patience, 
to  kindle  the  inhabitants  of  the  upper  part  of  the  dale,  but,  when  once  they  were 
kindled,  the  fire  burned  with  a  glowing  intensity  and  spread  amain.  By  common 
consent  Thomas  Batty  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  the  "Apostle  of  Weardale." 
This  does  not  mean  that  he  was  the  pioneer  missionary  of  the  Connexion  in  the  dale ; 


*  Rev.  J.  Wenn's  MSS.    Kindly  lent. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  143 

for  he  was  not.  That  honour  probably  belongs  to  George  Lazenby,  who  is  said  to  have 
preached  the  first  sermon  at  Stanhope  in  a  joiner's  shop  in  October,  1821,  and  he  was 
speedily  followed  by  others.  Xor  does  the  word  "apostle,"  accorded  to  Thomas  Batty, 
prejudice  the  claim  of  Jane  Ansdale,  F.  N.  Jersey,  Anthony  Race,  and  others,  to  have 
taken  a  foremost  part  in  the  movement.  What  makes  the  title  "  apostle  "  as  applied  to 
him  so  eminently  appropriate  is  the  fact  that,  in  the  preparatory  stages  and  in  the 
conduct  of  the  revival,  we  see  concentrated  and  embodied  in  Thomas  Batty  the  very 
spirit  of  the  revival.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere  a  more  moving  picture  of 
what  we  understand  by  "travailing  in  birth  for  souls"  than  the  picture  Batty  has 
drawn  of  himself  in  his  Journals  of  the  time. 

When  Thomas  Batty  came  to  Barnard  Castle  Branch  from  Silsden  in  the  autumn  of 
1822,  others  had  already  been  some  time  at  work  in  the  dale,  which  stretches,  some 


IRESIiOPEBURX. 

Home  of  the  Boyhood  of  Kev.  J.  Watsou,  D.D. 

fifteen  miles,  from  Lanehead  to  Frosterley.  At  Westgate,  and  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
dale,  the  people  had  been  in  a  measure  receptive  of  the  word  from  the  very  first. 
Jane  Ansdale's  ministrations  hereabout  had  proved  acceptable,  and  a  notable  convert 
had  already  been  won  in  the  person  of  J.  Dover  Muschamp,  a  man  of  some  standing  in 
the  dale.  Curiosity  drew  him  to  Westgate  to  hear  Jane  Ansdale,  who,  because  of  the 
unfavourable  weather,  preached  in  the  Wesleyan  Chapel,  kindly  lent  for  the  occasion. 
As  he  listened,  the  arrow  of  conviction  was  lodged,  and  he  went  away  stricken  and 
mourning.  Not  for  some  time,  however,  did  he  find  peace — not  even  though  he 
attended  a  camp  meeting  at  Stanhope,  and  stood  bare-headed  under  the  hot  sun  listening 
to  the  word.  But  when  he  had  retired  to  his  room  for  the  night,  healing  and  forgiveness 
were  experienced,  and  at  once  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Muschamp  gave  themselves  heart  and  soul 
to  the  new  cause.  But  though  this  conversion  was  a  notable,  and  by  no  means 


|44  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

a  solitary  one  in  the  neighbourhood,  yet  it  is  evident  that  no  extraordinary  work  had  as 
yet  begun.     Figures,  and  Thomas  Hatty's  own  explicit  statements,  show  this. 

Meanwhile,  the  burthen  pressed  heavily  on  Mr.  Batty.  How  he  did  labour !  And 
yet  it  seemed  to  him  he  was  spending  his  strength  for  nought.  Crowds — and  often 
weeping  crowds — attended  the  services,  "  but  they  could  not  be  got  to  join  the  society." 
They  let  hearing  and  weeping  suffice.  He  speaks  of  one  unforgettable  night,  when  he 
was  returning  from  an  apparently  fruitless  service  at  Ireshopeburn.  As  he  waded 
through  the  snow  and  water  and  slush,  his  depression  was  extreme,  and  almost 
insupportable.  He  could  not  talk  to  his  companion;  he  "could  only  sigh  and  groan 
and  weep."  His  tell-tale  countenance  seemed  to  say,  "  I  am  the  man  that  hath  seen 
affliction,''  and  that  sad  countenance  was  long  remembered  in  the  dale.  The  sequel  of 
this  journey  is  worth  telling  in  Thomas  Batty's  own  words,  only  that  we  may  premise 
that  Westgate  was  Batty's  destination,  and  that  his  home  was  to  be  with  Joseph 
Walton,  "  who  was  a  class-leader  and  a  mighty  labourer  in  prayer." 

"When  I  arrived  at  Joseph  Walton's  I  was  so  sorrowful  that  I  could  scarce  eat 
any  supper.  Joseph  and  I  entered  into  some  conversation  on  the  subject  that 
distressed  me.  I  stated  to  him  that  if  we  could  not  succeed  soon,  I  thought  we 
should  be  obliged  to  leave  and  go  to  some  other  people,  among  whom  we  should 
probably  do  better.  He  said  :  'Nay,  don't  do  so ;  try  a  little  longer.'  I  replied  : 
'  Well,  I  have  been  at  the  far  end  before  now,  and  when  I  got  to  the  end  the  Lord 
began  to  work,  and  He  can  do  so  again.'  This  conversation  cheered  and  revived 
my  spirits,  and  my  faith  began  to  rise.  Praise  the  Lord." 

When  some  little  time  after  this,  the  Ireshopeburn  preaching-house  was  closed  to 
them,  Batty  did  indeed  seem  to  have  ''reached  the  far  end."  But  Anthony  Race  said  '• 
"If  the  devil  shuts  one  door,  the  Lord  will  open  two."  And  so  it  literally  came  to 
pass.  Of  the  two  houses  now  offered  them,  they  chose  the  better  one  for  their  purpose, 
and  there,  in  March,  1823,  while  Batty  was  preaching,  a  man  fell  to  the  ground.  That 
nignt  a  small  society  was  formed,  and  the  revival  began,  which  swept  the  dale  and  led 
Mr.  Muschamp  to  say  exultantly  :  "  I  think  all  the  people  in  Weardale  are  going  to  be 
Ranters." 

The  laws  which  govern  the  origin  and  course  of  great  revivals  are  obscure  and 
difficult  to  trace.  It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  say  how  far  Thomas  Batty's  mental 
distress  was  really  "travail  of  soul" — the  very  birth -throes  of  the  revival,  and  how  far 
it  was  the  result  of  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Weardale  type  of  character,  and 
therefore  uncalled  for.  It  was  reserved  for  an  observant  toll-gate  keeper  to  hint  that 
Thomas  Batty  did  not  understand  the  anthracite  temperament  of  the  dalesmen  as  well 
as  he  understood  it,  and  to  give  him  advice,  which  he  followed  with  advantage. 

"  I  lodged  with  a  friendly  man  one  night,  a  little  after  this  had  happened,  who 
kept  a  toll-gate  in  the  dale,  between  St.  John's  Chapel  and  Prize.  This  man  said 
to  me  on  the  following  morning  :  '  If  you  will  come  and  preach  about  here  every 
night  for  a  week,  you  will  soon  have  a  hundred  people  in  society.'  I  replied  ; 
'Well,  if  I  thought  so,  I  would  soon  do  that.'  The  man  said  :  'I  am  sure  of  it :  the 
whole  country  is  under  convictions.  You  do  not  know  the  people  as  well  as  I  do  ; 
they  often  stop  and  talk  with  me  at  the  gate.  I  hear  what  they  say  about  '  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


145 


Ranters,'  and  I  am  sure  if  you  would  come  and  preach  every  night  for  a  week,  you 
would  soon  have  a  hundred  souls.'  This  toll-gate  keeper  was  not  at  that  time 
converted,  neither  did  he  make  any  profession  of  religion  ;  but  he  was  an  open- 
hearted,  well-disposed  man,  and  had  taken  a  liking  to  our  cause.  As  early  as 
possible,  I  got  my  regular  appointments  supplied  by  a  preacher  whom  Hull 
quarter-day  sent  us.  He  entered  into  my  labours  as  appointed  on  the  plan,  and 
I  enlarged  our  borders  by  missioning  entirely  new  ground.  But  I  previously 
attended  to  the  advice  of  my  friend,  and  preached  about  his  neighbourhood  every 
night  for  a  week  :  and  at  the  quarter's  end  we  had  just  added  one  hundred  souls." 
(Memoir  of  Thomas  Batty,  pp.  54-5.) 

The  irrefragable  evidence  of  the  numerical  returns  for  successive  quarters  remains  to 


NENTHEAD,    NEAR  ALSTON. 

confirm  Mr.  Batty's  statements,  and  to  witness  to  the  magnitude  of  the  revival.  In 
March,  1823,  when  the  revival  began,  the  membership  of  the  branch  was  219;  in 
June,  308  ;  in  September,  625 ;  in  December,  846,  when  there  were  five  preachers  on 
the  ground.  There  is  a  blessed  sameness  in  the  personal  and  more  far-reaching  effects 
wrought  by  every  great  revival  such  as  that  which  affected  Weardale.  On  these  we 
need  not  dwell.  But  the  revival  was  not  without  its  incidents  of  a  less  familiar,  and 
some  of  even  a  novel,  kind.  Amongst  the  latter  must  be  reckoned  the  eagerness  for 
hearing  the  gospel,  which,  as  at  Wellshope,  led  the  people  to  economise  every  inch  of 
available  space  by  removing  all  the  tables  and  chairs  from  the  room  except  one  chair, 
on  which  the  preacher  stood,  and  then  some  stalwart  miner  would  come  forward  and 

K 


146  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

stand  with  his  back  to  the  preacher,  so  that  he — the  preacher — might  find  support  by 
resting  his  arms  on  the  man's  shoulders  !  There  was  competition  for  the  honour  of 
fulfilling  this  office ;  and  who  shall  say  that  such  a  living  reading-desk  was  not  as 
pleasing  in  God's  sight  as  the  eagle  lectern  of  polished  brass  1 

Before  the  close  of  1823  the  Revival  had  spread  to  Nenthead.  The  missionaries  had 
been  urged  to  extend  their  labours  to  this  district,  and,  in  response,  Anthony  Race  is 
said  to  have  crossed  over  and  preached  at  Nenthead  for  the  first  time  on  the  Lord's 
day,  March  23rd,  1823.  Anthony  Race  was  the  grandfather  of  the  late  George  Race, 
sen.  He  had  been  a  Wesley  an  local  preacher,  and  as  such  had  taken  long  journeys — 
sometimes  walking  as  far  as  Durham,  Hexham,  Haydonbridge,  and  Appleby  in 
Westmoreland.  Anthony  Race  entered  the  ministry  this  same  year — 1823 — but  his 
term  of  service  was  short,  as  he  died  between  the  Conferences  of  1828  and  1829. 
Thomas  Batty  soon  followed  his  colleagues  to  Nenthead  and  Garrigill.  By  some  they 
were  regarded  with  suspicion  as  "  outlandish  men,"  or  Political  Radical  Reformers  under 
another  name,  but  the  generality  of  the  people  waited  eagerly  on  their  ministrations 
and  wanted  to  pay  for  them  by  taking  up  a  collection  !  Batty  promised  them  they 
should  have  the  opportunity  of  showing  their  gratitude  on  the  occasion  of  his  next 
visit,  when  the  quarterly  collection  would  be  due.  On  this  visit,  Mr.  Batty  took  his 
stand  on  a  flag  by  the  door  of  Mr.  Isaac  Hornsby,  an  official  of  the  lead-works.  On 
that  flag  Mr.  Wesley  had  once  stood  to  preach.  When  the  collection  was  named  each 
man  sought  his  pocket,  and  it  was  as  though  a  body  of  drilled  troops  were  executing 
a  military  movement  at  the  word  of  command.  The  precision  with  which  the  thing 
was  done  was  such  as  to  draw  forth  the  admiration  of  the  ex-man-of-war's-man. 
Although  it  was  a  week-night,  three  pounds  were  taken  up  at  that  collection.  In  six 
months  one  hundred  members  had  been  enrolled  at  Nenthead. 

At  this  point,  Westgate  was  detached  from  Barnard  Castle  to  become  a  separate 
branch  of  Hull  Circuit,  with  John  Hewson  as  its  superintendent,  and  G.  W.  Armitage, 
a  youthful  but  acceptable  preacher,  as  its  junior  minister.  When  to  these  was  added 
John  Oxtoby,  who  in  September,  1824,  walked  from  Whitehaven  to  Westgate,  the 
revival,  which  had  somewhat  flagged,  gained  fresh  impetus.  The  sanctification  of  believers 
as  a  definite  work  of  grace  was  a  prominent  phase  of  the  revival 
at  this  stage,  as  well  as  the  conversion  of  sinners.  During  these 
months  very  remarkable  scenes  were  witnessed  in  the  Dales. 
Of  these  scenes  we  get  glimpses  in  the  full  Journals  of  Messrs. 
Oxtoby  and  Armitage,  and  the  late  Rev.  W.  Dent  has  also  supplied 
us  with  some  reminiscences  of  what  he  himself  saw  and  took  part 
in.  Mr.  Dent  was  converted  at  Westgate  in  1823,  entered  the 
ministry  in  1827,  and  travelled  thirty-three  years  with  great 
acceptance.  After  his  retirement  he  settled  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
where  his  spare  form,  ascetic,  spiritual  looking  face,  and  his  quick 
REV.  w.  DENT.  bodily  movements,  which  at  once  responded  to  and  registered  the 
feeling  within,  made  him  a  familiar  figure  to  our  churches.  Mr.  Dent  had  a  wide 
acquaintance  with  Methodist  theology,  and  was  an  able  exponent  and  defender  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christian  perfection.  He  died  March  16th,  1864.  Mr.  Dent  was  a  keen 


THR    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  147 

observer  of  the  phenomena  of  Oxtoby's    revival,  and  his  remarks  on   the  "  fallings " 
which  were  so  noteworthy  a  feature  of  that  revival  are  worth  preserving  : — 

"There  Avere  many  cases  of  prostration  in  connection  with  that  great  work. 
I  have  seen  more  than  fifteen  at  one  meeting,  some  of  whom  were  sober-minded 
Christians,  as  humble  as  they  were  earnest.  And  what  was  very  observable,  there 
was  nothing  in  the  voice  or  manner  of  the  preacher  to  account  for  such  effects  ;  no 
vociferation,  no  highly  impassioned  address.  He  (J.  Oxtoby)  stood  as  steadily, 
and  talked  as  calmly,  as  I  ever  witnessed  any  one  do.  But  he  was  fully  in  the 
faith — clothed  with  salvation  ;  having  in  many  instances,  got  to  know  substantially 
in  his  closet  what  ivas  about  to  take  place  in  the  great  congregation.  He  did  not  take 
a  falling  down  as  a  certain  proof  of  the  obtaining  of  entire  sanctificatioii ;  but 
ascribed  much  to  physical  causes — to  nervous  weakness.  I  do  not  recollect  that 
there  were  any  cases  of  the  kind  proved  to  be  hypocritical  mimicry.  It  was 
wonderful  how  some  persons  so  affected  were  preserved  from  physical  harm. 
I  remember  seeing  men  fall  suddenly  backwards  on  stone  flags  without  being  hurt, 
and  on  one  occasion,  in  a  dwelling-house,  a  man  fell  against  the  fire-place,  the  fire 
burning  at  the  time,  without  being  injured." 

In  September,  1825,  John  Garner  became  superintendent  of  Westgate  Branch;  and 
now  a  wave  of  the  great  revival,  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  going  on  ever  since 
March,  1823,  reached  Alston  and  Allendale.  Allenheads,  Nenthead  and  Garrigill  are 
names  found  in  the  early  books  of  Barnard  Castle  Branch.  They  had  been  visited  by 
its  missionaries,  as  we  have  seen,  and  already  had  shared  in  the  revival.  But  the  books 
make  no  mention  of  Alston.  That  place,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  as  well  as  lower 
Allendale,  was  first  visited  by  missionaries  from  Hexham.  Now,  however,  in  the 
autumn  of  1825,  they  are  included  within  the  area  of  Westgate  Branch  as  the  following 
report  of  the  progress  of  the  revival,  taken  from  the  Journal  of  John  Garner,  shows : 

December  19th,  1825. — "  I  went  to  Alston,  and  was  glad  to  hear  that  one  hundred 
and  upwards  had  united  with  our  Society  within  the  last  three  months,  and  that 
the  work  of  sanctification  had  been  going  on  all  the  time.  But  this  glorious, 
extraordinary  and  important  work,  is  not  confined  to  Alston.  It  has  spread 
through  the  whole  branch.  According  to  my  best  calculation,  I  think  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  at  least,  have  been  converted  to  God, 
within  the  time  above  specified.  The  Lord  is  extending  our 
borders,  and  opening  our  way  in  Alston-Moor,  and  East  and 
West  Allendale.  Truly,  these  are  the  days  of  the  Son  of 
Man  with  power,  and  we  are  willing  to  hope  for  greater  things 
than  these  ;  for  nothing  is  too  hard  for  the  Lord." 

A  year  after  this  the  revival  had  not  spent  its  force.  Joseph 
Grieves  had  come  to  the  Westgate  and  Alston  Branch  in  June, 
1826.  He  himself  was  a  trophy  of  the  revival,  having  been 
delivered  from  "drunkenness,  profane  swearing,  and  poaching," 
by  his  signal  conversion  at  a  lovefeast  at  Westgate  in  May, 
1824.  Grieves  was  at  Alston  on  January  21st,  1827,  where  he 

tells  of  holding  a  service  by  invitation  in  a,  farmer's  house,  at  which  service  several 
were  converted,  including  the  farmer  himself,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  his  own  dairy, 

K2 


148 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHUltCH. 


where  Grieves  found   him  on  his  knees  crying  for  mercy.     "Twenty-five  joined  the 
society ;  and  a  publican  declared  that  the  revival  had  lost  him  a  pound  a  week." 

Our  mention  of  the  name  of  Joseph  Grieves  leads  us  to  mark  yet  another  sweep  of 
the  revival  movement,  which  resulted  in  planting  our  Church  in  Upper  Teesdale  and 
the  Eden  Valley,  thus  geographically  rounding  off  the  North- West  Mission.  Occasional 
visits  had  been  made  by  the  missionaries  to  the  neighbourhood  before  the  conversion  of 
Joseph  Grieves,  who  lived  at  Aukside,  near  Middleton :  but  "  the  harvest  was  great 
and  the  labourers  were  few,"  and  no  provision  could  as  yet  be  made  for  Sunday  services. 
Characteristically,  therefore,  Grieves  set  to  work  himself.  He  established  a  series  of 
house  prayer-meetings,  to  which  the  people  flocked,  curious  to  learn  how  these  former 


MAIN    STREET,    BIIOUGH. 

ringleaders  in  wickedness  would  pray.  Under  this  humble  agency  a  revival  began,  and 
one  of  its  earliest  gains  was  Mr.  John  Leekley,  afterwards  the  founder  of  Primitive 
Methodism  in  the  Western  States  of  America,  Now  a  recognised  exhorter,  Mr.  Grieves, 
along  with  Messrs.  Leekley,  Rain,  and  Collinsou,  missioned  Bowlees,  Hanvood,  Forest, 
and  other  places  in  Upper  Teesdale,  where  societies  were  established  which  continue  to 
this  day.  After  giving  such  indications  of  zeal  and  courage,  we  need  hardly  be  surprised 
that,  in  March,  1826,  Hull  Quarterly  Meeting  should  appoint  Mr.  Grieves  to  begin  his 
labours  as  a  travelling-preacher  in  Barnard  Castle  Branch.  He  laboured  for  thirty-eight 
years,  and  the  impression  the  Rev.  Philip  Pugh's  ably-written  memoir  leaves  on  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  149 

mind  of  the  reader  is,  that  our  Church  has  had  few  men  who  have  served  its  interests 
more  faithfully  and  successfully  than  did  this  revival-born  dalesman. 

And  now,  as  the  formation  of  the  Westgate  Branch  set  Thomas  Batty  at  liberty,  the 
Barnard  Castle  Branch  sought  compensation  for  its  diminished  territory  and  reduced 
membership,  by  sending  Mr.  Batty  to  mission  Brough  in  Westmoreland  and  other 
places  in  the  Eden  Valley.  He  set  out  from  Middleton  on  his  journey  of  fifteen  miles, 
commended  to  the  grace  of  God  by  his  kindly  entertainers.  He  had  a  long  and 
toilsome  journey  before  him ;  but,  when  he  stood  on  the  last  eminence  and  looked  down 
on  the  fair  valley  beneath,  with  the  Eden  like  a  ribbon  of  silver  winding  through,  he 
was  not  too  tired  or  too  much  engrossed  with  the  duty  that  lay  before  him,  to 
'•feast  his  eyes  with  the  beautiful  scenery,  and  to  rejoice  at  the  goodness  of  God 
to  man." 

The  gentry  of  Brough  were  hostile ;  the  generality,  and  especially  the  common 
people,  heard  him  gladly.  Mr.  Batty,  on  that  first  evening,  took  his  stand  on  a  horse- 
block before  a  public-house, which  the  landlady  had  obligingly  allowed  him  to  use,  adding, 
as  she  consented,  the  gracious  remark,  "  that  she  could  have  no  objection  to  anything 
that  was  good."  The  bellman's  announcement  had  drawn  together  a  curious  crowd,  and 
Batty  was  suffered  to  preach  without  molestation.  He  slept  at  Brough  Sowerby,  where 
a  society  was  soon  formed,  and  at  Brough  a  friendly  farmer  lent  his  barn  for  services. 
Meanwhile,  the  Committee  at  Hull  had  officially  appointed  Messrs.  Batty  and  Thomas 
Webb  to  this  new  mission,  and  processioning  and  out-door  preaching  became  the  order 
of  the  day.  The  "  gentry  "  now  thought  it  time  to  bestir  themselves.  Two  of  them 
invaded  the  barn,  where  a  prayer  meeting  was  being  held,  and  irreverently  discussed, 
to  their  own  discomfiture,  the  legal  bearings  of  the  service  they  were  interrupting. 
The  rumour  went  that  if  the  preacher  persisted  in  holding  a  service  at  the  Cross  the 
next  Sunday,  as  he  had  announced  he  would  do,  he  was  to  be  pulled  down.  He  was 
not  to  be  intimidated.  A  strong  band  from  Brough  Sowerby  and  Kirby  Stephen 
body-guarded  Batty  as  he  preached  his  fourth  sermon  that  day,  and  the  "  gentry " 
watched  the  proceedings  from  the  outskirts  of  the  congregation.  As  they  crossed  the 
green  to  the  barn  for  their  prayer  meeting,  Mr.  Batty  was  followed,  and  asked  to  show 
his  license.  Under  protest,  the  license  was  produced  and  handed  round,  and  scrutinised 
and  fingered  as  though  it  had  been  a  bank-note  of  doubtful  antecedents  and  value. 
"  Was  it  counterfeit  or  genuine  1  If  good  for  Yorkshire  did  it  hold  good  for  Westmore- 
land?" "For  all  England,"  said  Mr.  Batty.  At  this  point  the  ire  of  a  respectable 
tradesman  of  the  town  was  roused  by  this  high  handed  procedure.  Said  he,  hotly  : 
"  You  think  to  run  them  down,  a  parcel  of  you  !  You  think  they  are  poor  people,  and 
cannot  stand  up  for  themselves ;  but  I  have  plenty  of  money,  and  I'll  back  them." 
And  the  tradesman  was  as  good  as  his  word.  Next  morning  the  "gentry"  met  at  the 
head  inn  to  consult  as  to  what  should  next  be  done  in  the  present  serious  state  of 
affairs.  The  plan  they  hit  upon  was  to  send  the  bellman  round  to  proclaim  as  follows  : — 
''  This  is  to  give  notice,  that  a  vestry  meeting  will  be  held  this  evening  at  seven  o'clock 
to  put  down  all  midnight  revelling  and  ranting."  When  the  bellman  had  "cried"  the 
town,  another  commission  awaited  him.  The  respectable  tradesman  aforesaid,  with  the 
aid  of  his  brother  and  sundry  Acts  of  Parliament,  drew  up  a  counter-proclamation, 


J50 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


which  the  bellman  went  round  the  town  again  to  cry.     It  ran  as  follows  : — "  '1  his  is  to 
give  notice,  that  the  laws  against  tippling  and  riotous  midnight  revels  at  public-houses, 

gambling,  buying  and  selling,  and  other 
evil  practices  on  the  Sabbath  Day, 
cursing  and  swearing,  and  other  laws 
for  suppressing  vice  and  immorality, 
will  be  put  in  force,  and  notice  duly 
given  to  churchwardens  and  constables 
who,  in  case  of  neglect,  will  be  pre- 
sented at  the  Bishop's  Court  or  Quarter 
Sessions."  The  townsfolk  listened, 
then  laughed  and  said:  "That's  right; 
that's  right !  "  Thus,  so  to  say,  fizzled 
out  amid  laughter  this  fussy,  spit-fire 

OLD  PRIMITIVE  METHODIST  CHAPEL  AND  BROUGH  CASTLE.       attempfc  ()n    the    part  of    the    "  gentry  " 

to  frighten  the  missionary  and  keep  Primitive  Methodism  out  of  Brough ;  and  the 
story  is  told  here  because  this  would-be  persecution  was  the  last  instance  of  its  kind 
we  shall  meet  with  so  far  north,  and  because  this  persecution  that  failed  was  the 
precursor  of  a  revival  such  as  we  have  been  describing,  of  which,  indeed,  it  was  part 
and  the  continuation.  "A  glorious  work,"  says  Mr.  Batty,  "broke  out  immediately, 
and  in  a  fortnight  we  added  thirty-eight  souls  to  our  society ;  and  the  work  was 
both  genuine  and  deep.  Some  of  the  most  wicked  characters,  and  others  less  so,  were 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth:  "And  there  was  great  joy  in  that  town." 
Mr.  Batty  adds,  that  the  old  gentleman  who  allowed  the  use  of  his  barn  for  services 
was  himself  one  of  the  converts.  The  first  chapel,  which  long  stood  on  the  banks  of 
the  Augill,  and  under  the  shadow  of 
the  old  castle,  was  built  on  a  site  of 
land  given  by  him.  In  1877,  a  new 
chapel  was  built,  which  unfortunately 
was  burnt  down  three  yearsafter;  but 
the  society  energetically  set  about  the 
work  of  restoration,  and  since  that 
time  a  good  school  and  class-rooms 
have  been  added.  Brough  has  been 
an  independent  circuit  since  1849. 

Thus  the  churches  around  these 
northern  hills  and  dales  were  estab 
lished  by  revivals,  and  again  and 
again  have  these  same  churches  been 
replenished  and  refreshed  by  similar 
visitations.  No  wonder  that,  in  the 
localities  thus  visited,  these  bygone  revivals  should  be  often  talked  of.  When 
such  is  the  case,  we  are  told  it  is  customary  for  the  speaker  to  distinguish  the 
particular  revival -he  wishes  to  recall,  by  attaching  to  it  the  name  of  the  person 


CHAPEL,    BKOUGH. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


151 


MB.  HENKY    MILLER. 


REV     ADAM    DODDS. 


who,  under  God,  was  the  chief  agent  in  carrying  it  forward.  Thus  they  will 
speak  of  Batty's  or  Oxtoby's  revival,  of  McKeehnie's  or  Peter  Clarke's — the  list 
is  a  long  one.  We  can  but  barely  allude  to  one  or  two  of  these  revivals  which 
were  after  the  original  type.  There  was  the 
Stanhope  revival  of  1851-2,  which  Rev. 
C.  C.  Mclvechnie  described  in  the  Magazine 
at  the  time — a  revival  which  he  says  "  has 
transformed  the  character  of  our  little  church. 
It  is  no  longer  weak,  sickly,  emasculate,  but 
full  of  life,  vigour  and  enterprise."  There  was 
the  revival  which  began  at  Frosterley  in  1861, 
and  spread  through  Weardale ;  which  in  two 
months  increased  the  membership  from  68  to 
147,  and  led  to  the  voluntary  closing  on  the 
Sabbath  of  seven  public-houses.  Indeed, 
the  whole  period  from  1860  to  1866  seems  to  have  been  a  time  of  ingathering  in 
Westgate  Circuit,  for  the  membership  which  had  been  600  when  the  Rev. 
H.  Phillips  entered  the  circuit  in  the  former  year,  had  risen  to  975  when  the 
Rev.  P.  Clarke  left  it  in  1867.  Allendale,  too,  .which  had  gained  its  independence 
in  1848,  had  its  visitation  of  power  in  the  years  1859-61,  which,  after  making  good  all 
losses,  more  than  doubled  the  circuit  membership.  About  the  same  time  and  onward, 
a  great  revival  swept  over  West  Cumberland  from  Whitehaven  to  Carlisle.  In  this 
revival  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Miller  was  brought  to  God,  whose  active  and  useful  connection 
with  our  Church  in  the  Carlisle  Circuit  has  only  recently  been  terminated  by  death. 
The  names  of  Rev.  Adam  Dodds — Nathaniel-like  in  his  guilelessness — and  John  Taylor 
— then  in  the  vigour  of  early  manhood  and 
full  of  revival  zeal — will  always  be  associated 
with  this  spiritual  movement.  Nor  must  the 
prominent  part  taken  in  the  revival  by  Joseph 
Jopling  of  Frosterley — a  simple,  devout,  un- 
mercenary lay-evangelist — be  forgotten.  Him- 
self the  fruit  of  a  revival,  he  in  some  sort  links 
together  the  revivals  of  Weardale  and  Cum- 
berland. In  this  suitable  connection  we  give 
the  portrait  of  Mr.  Joseph  Collinson,  another 
Frosterley  local  preacher  who  showed  himself 
an  active  promoter  of  revivals. 


JOSEPH  JOPLING. 


MR.  J.  COLLINSON. 


SOME  SIDELIGHTS  ON  THE  .NORTH  WESTERN  MISSION. 

Barnard  Castle  and  Whitehaven  were  branches  of  Hull  Circuit  until  1840,  and 
Westgate  and  Alston  until  1834  and  1835,  respectively.  Thus  barely  stated,  this  fact  of 
the  intimate  relations  with  Hull  Circuit,  so  long  sustained  by  the  branches  named, 
seems  simple  enough.  But  it  is  not  enough  merely  to  state  the  fact,  which  had  as  many 


152  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

reticulations  as  the  veining  of  a  leaf,  and  some  of  these  need  following  if  we  are  to  get 
a  true  idea  of  the  state  of  the  societies,  which  must  have  been  largely  conditioned  and 
complexioned  by  this  dependence  on  Hull.  We  have  only  to  remember  that  all  the 
affairs  of  the  branches — financial,  administrative  and  disciplinary — were  regularly 
supervised  by  the  parent  circuit,  in  order  to  see  that  this  must  have  been  the  case.  Hull 
sent  its  preachers,  and  of  these  some  of  its  very  best,  to  work  these  distant  branches. 
Messrs.  Flesher,  W.  Garner,  Harland,  Sanderson,  even  Clowes  himself — they  were  all 
here  at  one  time  or  another.  The  societies  would  fall  into  the  habit  of  looking  to  Hull 
rather  than  as  yet  to  Sunderland,  to  know  what  was  being  thought  of  and  determined 
in  reference  to  themselves.  The  Hull  Committee  would  come  to  be  regarded  as 
a  powerful,  if  somewhat  mysterious  entity,  to  be  spoken  of  with  respect ;  so  that  Thomas 
Batty  could  clinch  his  argument  with  the  "  gentry "  of  Brough  by  first  affirming : 
"  I  am  sent  by  our  Committee  at  Hull,"  and  then  by  asking  :  "  Do  you  think  they  have 
sent  me  here  without  legal  authority"?"  The  frequent  change  of  preachers  in  these 
branches,  and  the  obligation  the  preachers  were  under  to  attend  the  quarterly  meetings 
at  Hull,  were-  regulations  which,  in  practice,  would  create  variety  and  incident  in  the 
societies  from  Whitehaven  to  Barnard  Castle.  The  Jotirnals  of  the  time  are  punctuated 
by  references  to  these  recurring  quarterly  meetings.  You  read  the  details  of  a  spell  of 
work,  and  then  are  suddenly  brought  to  a  stop  by  some  such  sentence  as:  "I  then 
proceeded  to  Hull  in  order  to  attend  the  quarterly  meeting."  The  preachers  seem  to  be 
always  either  going  to  the  quarter  day  or  returning  therefrom.  Now,  as  we  have  written 
in  another  place :  "  It  is  easy  to  write  that  the  missionary,  Mr.  Clowes,  for  instance, 
proceeded  from  Carlisle  to  Hull  to  attend  the  quarter  day.  A  moment's  reflection, 
however,  will  serve  to  make  it  sufficiently  obvious,  that  seventy  years  ago  this  was  no 
light  journey.  It  probably  enough  meant  rising  with  the  lark,  and  with  the  mission  or 
branches  quarterly  income  in  his  pocket,  and  staff  in  hand,  trudging  along  over  bleak 
fells,  and  passing  through  town  and  village  and  hamlet.  Now  and  again,  it  may  be,  he 
gets  a  lift  in  a  carrier's  cart  or  passing  vehicle,  and  then,  towards  the  gloaming,  turns 
tired  and  travel-stained  into  some  hospitable  dwelling,  the  home  of  some  well-known 
adherent  of  the  Connexion  or  of  some  colleague  in  the  ministry.  Then  the  frugal 
meal,  seasoned  with  pleasant  talk  of  the  work  of  God,  and  all  sanctified  by  prayer ;  the 
sleep  which  needed  no  wooing,  preparing  for  the  next  day's  journey.  Many  such  days 
must  have  been,  when  as  yet  Whitehaven,  Alston  Moor,  and  other  distant  places  were 
branches  of  Hull  Circuit,  and  we  have  listened  to  the  description  of  some  such  journey 
as  this  from  those  whose  lips  are  now  sealed  by  death."  * 

Perhaps  the  thought  may  occur  to  us  that  these  long  journeys  and  frequent  absences 
must  have  involved  much  toil  and  loss  of  time,  and  have  been  a  serious  interruption  of 
labour.  Likely  enough  it  was  so ;  but  we  are  writing  of  things  as  they  were,  and  not 
of  things  as  we  think  they  ought  to  have  been.  Besides,  one  can  on  reflection  see  that 
these  "  journeyings  oft"  would  have  their  compensations  both  for  preachers  and  people. 
We  have  already,  in  speaking  of  Hugh  Bourne's  incessant  perambulations  during  the 
time  he  was  general  superintendent,  compared  them  to  the  movements  of  the  weaver's 

*  Smaller  "  History  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion,"  2nd  Ed.  pp.  76-7. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  153 

shuttle  by  which  the  interlacing  threads  of  the  woof  are  added  to  the  warp,  and  the 
tissue  slowly  put  together.  Similar  would  be  the  effect  of  the  constant  going  to  and  fro 
of  men  who  had  not  lost  the  taste  or  tradition  of  conversation-preaching.  Intercourse 
would  tend  to  knit  together  the  various  societies,  and  have  a  positive  value  for 
evangelisation.  As  for  the  preachers  themselves,  the  stimulus  derived  from  association 
with  so  many  of  their  brethren  assembled  in  Hull,  would  conduce  to  their  greater 
efficiency,  and  they  would  return  to  their  stations  like  iron  that  has  been  sharpened  by 
iron.  It  is  no  fancy  picture  we  draw.  It  so  happens  that  both  our  arch-founders 
made  "  religious  excursions  " — to  use  their  own  phrase — in  these  part?,  and  in  their 
Journal*  we  can  see  that,  even  by  the  head-waters  of  Tyne  and  Wear  and  Tees, 
and  by  the  coast  of  the  Irish  Sea,  we  are  still  on  Hull  territory.  We  can  also 
gain  glimpses  of  some  early  befrienders  of  the  cause  in  these  parts,  who  kept 
open  house  for  the  servants  of  God  and  were  recompensed  by  receiving  back  from 
them  good  into  their  own  bosoms.  W.  Clowes  speaks  of  being  able  to  preach 
without  intermission,  night  after  night,  on  his  way  to  Hull.  It  was  not  in  his  line, 
unfortunately,  to  give  an  account  written  with  all  the  circumstantiality  of  a  log-book, 
of  such  a  journey.  But  once — only  once  it  would  seem — Hugh  Bourne  preached  his 
way  from  Whitehaven  to  Darlington,  and,  as  usual,  his  Journal  is  not  wanting  in 
that  welcome  particularity  which  helps  to  illumine  the  past.  The  one  journey  he  describes 
may  stand  for  many  of  which  no  record  survives.  What  Hugh  Bourne  once  did  was 
often  repeated  by  W.  Clowes  and  other  leading  missionaries  when  en  route  for  Hull. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1831,  Hugh  Bourne  landed  at  Whitehaven  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  the  month  in  traversing,  chiefly  on  foot,  but  with  occasional  helps  by  the 
way,  the  district,  excluding  Carlisle  and  Hexham,  whose  first  missioning  we  have 
already  described.  He  found  W.  Garner  in  charge  of  the  Whitehaven  Branch.  He 
visited  many  families  in  company  with  Mr.  Garner,  and  took  part  in  services  at  White- 
haven,  Harrington,  Distington,  and  Workington.  Then  he  took  coach  to  Penrith  and 
looked  up  Bro.  Featherstone.  A  congregation  was  got  together  and  Hugh  Bourne 
preached,  ^sext  he  walked  twenty  miles  to  Alston,  through  "a  tract  of  country  more 
dreary  than  any  I  saw  in  any  part  of  the  country."  He  jots  down  some  particulars  as  to 
the  violence  and  freaks  of  the  "  helm-wind,"  peculiar  to  that  part  and,  in  his  careful 
vein,  notes  how  a  cheap  kind  of  fuel  is  made  in  the  district  by  means  of  "slack" 
(coal)  mixed  with  clay  and  formed  into  fire-balls.  Kow  he  is  on  the  Alston  and 
Westgate  Union  Branch  of  Hull  Circuit  with  W.  Sanderson  as  its  superintendent,  and 
along  with  him  he  again  visits  many  families.  He  sees  Bro.  Walton,  and  is  the  guest  of 
Mr.  Muschamp  at  Brother! ee  one  night,  and  going  to  and  fro  he  visits  most  of  the  places 
we  have  had  occasion  to  mention — Allenheads,  Allendale  Town,  Middle  Acton,  Wearhead, 
Westgate,  and  Frosterley.  "The  pious,  praying  labourers  are  diligent,"  he  observes, 
"and  the  work  has  been  and  is  rather  extraordinary."  A  revival  is  evidently  again  afoot 
in  these  parts.  Then  he  walks  to  Middleton — ten  miles — and  finds  twenty-one 
members  have  recently  emigrated,  one  of  these  being  Bro.  Raine,  who  has  become 
a  preacher  in  Pennsylvania,  U.S.A.,  and  a  letter  from  whom  he  reads.  Assisted  with 
a  horse  he  now  goes  to  Brough,  where  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the  Barnard  Castle  Branch 
is  being  held,  and  he  spends  the  night  at  Mouthlock  with  Bro.  Hilton.  Barnard  Castle 


154  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

is  his  next  stage,  which  he  reaches  partly  by  riding  Bro.  Hilton's  horse,  and  partly  by 
walking.  He  has  another  diet  of  visitation  here  in  company  with  Bro.  Harland,  the 
minister  in  charge  of  the  branch.  "  In  this  branch,"  he  notes,  "  there  is  a  great  spirit 
of  prayer,  and  the  work  is  in  a  good  state."  He  takes  Staindrop  on  his  way,  and  next 
day  sets  out  for  Darlington,  taking  care  to  call  at  Ingleton  in  order  to  share  the 
hospitality  of  Bro.  Emerson.  They  cross  over  to  Bro.  Young's  and  have  a  bout  of 
prayer,  and  Brother  Young  takes  him  forward  a  little  way  in  his  conveyance.  Their 
talk  is  not  about  beeves  or  crops,  but  about  camp  meetings.  Bro.  Young  tells  him  of 
"  a  confused,  unsteady,  inefficient  camp  meeting  he  had  lately  attended  in  a  neighbouring 
circuit ; "  and  Hugh  Bourne  has  his  own  remarks  to  make  on  the  cause  and  cure  of  this. 
"  The  travelling  preachers  ought  to  be  called  to  their  answer  for  cutting  off  the  praying 
services."  So  he  comes  to  Darlington  and  Hurworth  for  Sunday,  August  28th,  having, 
in  his  religious  excursion  of  twenty-four  days,  preached  twenty-eight  times — thrice  in 
the  open-air — besides  attending  prayer  meetings  and  visiting  and  walking  an  indefinite 
number  of  miles.  Finally,  because  the  Ripon  coach  was  full,  he  takes  the  coach  to 
Thirsk  and  walks  to  Ripon,  and  then  by  Leeds  and  Manchester  makes  for  home,  but 
falls  ill  just  before  he  reaches  it — which  we  cannot  much  wonder  at. 

During  his  itinerary  through  Hull's  North-Western  Branches  Hugh  Bourne,  it  may 
be  remembered,  had  met  with  Joseph  Walton  and  Mr.  J.  D.  Muschamp.  The  latter 
was  helpful  to  the  Westgate  Society  when  its  first  chapel  was  erected  in  1824.  The 
land  for  the  site  was  given,  and  the  miners  in  their  spare  time  cheerfully  assisted  in 
the  erection.  Mr.  Muschamp  might  have  been  seen  hard  at  work  among  the  rest. 
Thirty  days  he  devoted  to  stone-getting  or  walling,  and  twenty  to  soliciting  subscriptions. 
But  presently  the  work  was  brought  to  a  stand.  It  was  alleged  that  the  stones  in  the 
bed  of  the  burn  served  to  break  the  force  of  the  "  spate,"  and  that  their  removal  would 
endanger  the  bridge ;  hence  the  person  in  charge  of  the  bridges  of  the  district,  issued 
his  prohibition  against  the  taking  out  of  any  more  stones  for  chapel-building  purposes. 
In  some  way  the  matter  came  under  discussion  before  certain  magistrates  and  gentlemen 
at  Durham.  "Who  are  these  Ranters'?"  was  the  very  natural  inquiry.  Some  one  well 
informed  as  to  the  facts  of  the  case  and  well-disposed  too,  it  would  seem,  stated  what 
had  been  the  moral  effects  of  the  entry  of  the  Primitive  Methodists  into  the  dale, 
especially  in  having  done  more  to  put  a  stop  to  poaching  than  gamekeepers,  magistrates 
and  prisons  together  had  been  able  to  effect.  On  hearing  this,  permission  to  take  as 
many  stones  from  the  bed  of  the  burn  as  might  be  necessary  to  complete  the  chapel  was 
readily  granted.  Once  more  Mr.  Muschamp  is  said  to  have  shown  himself  a  friend  in 
need.  When  the  trustees  were  straitened  for  money  and  unable  to  meet  the  payment 
due  to  the  builder,  he  went  home,  sold  a  cow  and  gave  the  proceeds  to  the  building 
fund.  For  thirty  years  he  was  Circuit  Steward  and  Chapel  Treasurer,  dying  in  1858, 
at  Brotherlee,  on  the  small  patrimonial  estate  where  he  had  lived  for  eighty-three  years. 

It  was  just  two  months  before  Hugh  Bourne  preached  at  Westgate  that  George  Race 
had  been  made  an  exhorter.  It  is  likely  enough  the  novice  both  observed  and  heard 
the  veteran  attentively,  though  they  might  not  have  speech  the  one  with  the  other. 
But  though  Hugh  Bourne  does  not  mention  Mr.  Race's  name,  if  he  could  have  foreseen 
the  figure  this  new-fledged  exhorter  would  afterwards  become  in  the  dale  and  beyond, 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


155 


MR.  GEORGE  RACK. 


he  would  certainly  have  referred  to  him,  as  we  are  bound  to  do.  It  would  be  rash  and 
invidious  to  affirm  that  George  Race,  sen.,  was  the  ablest  layman  Primitive  Methodism 
has  yet  produced.  It  is  quite  permissible  to  affirm  that,  for  sheer  mental  force,  there 
have  been  few  to  equal  him.  He  was  a  dalesman  and  made  no 
pretension,  even  in  speech  or  manner,  to  be  anything  else.  The 
miners  and  crofters  felt  that  this  village  store-keeper  was  one  of 
themselves,  and  yet  they  knew  that  mentally  he  was  head  and 
shoulders  above  themselves,  and  were  proud  and  not  jealous  of 
his  bigness,  of  which  he  seemed  hardly  aware.  For  there  was  in 
the  man  a  fine  balance  of  brain  and  heart ;  his  homeliness  and 
companionableness  drew  men  to  him,  so  that  the  relation  between 
him  and  his  friends  and  neighbours  was  like  that  of  a  chieftain 
to  his  clansmen — -familiar,  but  respectful.  He  had  read  much, 
and  he  had  pondered  and  explored  and  discussed  with  his 
friends  the  underlying  problems  of  philosophy  and  religion.  In 

later  years  his  mind  was  greatly  drawn  to  geology  in  some  of  its  aspects — to  stratifica- 
tion and  denudation,  and  the  rest.  He  tried  to  find  out  how  these  valleys  and  hills 
amongst  which  he  loved  to  wander  had  become  what  they  were ;  how  the  valleys  had 
been  scooped  out,  and  the  course  of  the  torrent  scored,  and  the  hills  uplifted,  and  some 
of  his  doubts  on  the  accepted  conclusions  relative  to  these  matters,  and  his  own 
excogitations  thereon,  were  given  to  the  world.  Meanwhile  he  '  knew  whom  he  had 
believed.'  To  him,  "  conversion  was  the  abiding  miracle"  and  Christian  experience  the 
basis  of  certitude.  Few  could  preach  with  the  same  power  and  acceptance  as  he  could, 
yet  he  was  easily  pleased  with  the  preaching  of  others,  for  his  faith  being  simple,  his 
heart  responded  to  the  ring  of  sincerity  in  the  utterance.  We  know  our  sketch  of 
George  Race,  sen  ,  is  imperfect,  but  it  is  an  honest  attempt  to  hand  down  what  may 
serve  faintly  to  recall  some  of  the  features  of  this  dalesman  in  ejccelsis. 

George    Race,  jun.,   worthily  fills  the  place  his  father  occupied  so  long.     Heavily 
weighted  as  he  is  by  the  responsibility  of  sustaining  and  carrying  onward  the  traditions 
and  memories  associated  with  the  name  he  bears,  that  responsibility 
is  being  bravely  and  steadily  borne.     More  would  we  say  were  he 
not,  as  happily  he  is,  still  amongst  us. 

In  this  upland  region  where  the  rivers  have  their  rise,  Methodism 
in  its  two  branches,  old  and  Primitive,  has  long  been,  as  it  were, 
the  established  religion.  These  moors  and  dales  have  received 
much  from  Methodism,  and  it  is  just  as  true  to  say  that  they 
have  given  much  to  Methodism  in  return.  So  far  as  our  own 
Church  is  concerned,  the  mere  enumeration  of  those  who  have 
gone  forth  into  its  ministry  from  these  parts  would  occupy  more 
space  than  we  have  at  command.  Were  we  to  add  to  these  the 
dalesmen  born  who  have,  like  their  own  rivers,  found  their  way 
to  the  lowlands  and  populous  centres  to  enrich  the  life  of  our  churches,  the  roll  would 
be  a  long  one  indeed.  We  have  only  to  think  of  the  Watsons,  Pearts,  Clemitsons, 
Elliotts,  Featherstones,  Gibsons,  Reeds,  Emmersons,  Gills,  Phillipsons,  Prouds,  and 


MR.  GEORGE  RACE,  JUN 


J56 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHUKCII. 


the  bearer  of  other  Northern    names  — to  be  reminded  of  our  indebtedness.     The  few 

portraits  we  give  are  only  "on  account."     One  of  these  is  that  of  Joseph  Gibson,  of 
Brotherlee,  who  did  such  good  work  in  Liverpool  and,  humanly  speaking,  died  all  too 


REV.    J.    GIBSON. 


MR.    RALPH   FEATHERSTONE   RACE. 


MR.    J.    RITSON. 


soon,  in  October  1866.  Elsewhere  will  be  found  that  of  Dr.  John  Watson,  of 
Ireshopeburn,  who  had  what  was  probably  the  unique  distinction  of  travelling  the 
whole  of  his  probation  in  his  native  circuit.  As  representative  laymen  of  this 
interesting  district  we  give  the  portraits  of  Messrs.  Joseph  Ritson,  of  Allendale,  Ralph 
Featherstone  Race,  of  Teesdale,  J.  Gibson,  and  J.  Elliott,  of  Weardale. 

Mr.  J.  Ritson,  of  Ninebanks,  West  Allen,  was  intimately  associated  with  the  work  of 
Primitive  Methodism  in  the  west  part  of  the  Allendale  Circuit.  Converted  in  Keenley 
under  the  ministry  of  Thomas  Greener,  he  shortly  afterwards  removed  to  Ninebanks 
where  he  commenced  business  as  a  joiner  and  cartwright.  This  was  in  1833,  and  at 
that  time  we  had  no  chapel  in  West  Allendale.  Largely  through  Mr.  Ritson's  efforts 
land  was  obtained  and  a  chapel  built  at  Carry  Hill,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  further  up 
the  Dale.  For  the  next  forty  years  he  was  a  leading  figure  in  the  society  and  laboured 
indefatigably  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause.  His  house  was  the  home  of  the 
preachers.  His  eldest  son  was  for  many  years  Circuit  Steward ;  his  second  daughter 

became  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  R.  Clemitson, 

and  his  youngest  son    is  in  the  ministry  of 

our  Church  and  vice-editor.      Retiring  from 

business  in  1872,  he  removed  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood  of    Allendale   Town,    and    took    a 

leading  part  in  the  erection   of  the  present 

chapel.  He  died  July  26th,  1878.  Mr.  Ritson 

was  a  profoundly  religious  man  ;    "  he  carried 

his  conscience  into  the  construction  of  a  cart 

wheel,  the  roofing  of  a  house,  the  making  of 

a  piece  of  furniture — each  must  be  a  sound 

piece  of  workmanship." 
The  two  honoured  ministers  named  above  may  be  taken  as  good  specimens  of  that  type 
of  men  of  which  this  interesting  region  is  the  matrix.     The  type  is  one  not  difficult 
to  recognise.     You  find  in  it  a  pronounced  sobriety  and  thoughtfulness,  in  perfect 


MR.  J.  GIBSON. 


MR.    J.    ELLIOTT. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


157 


REV.   HENRY    HEBBRON. 


keepin"  with  the  austere  anil  solemn  beauty  of  the  outward  things  their  eyes  first 
looked  upon.  It  has  a  temperament  capable  of  qu«et  and  sustained  enthusiasm.  It 
is  hard  and  solid  to  look  at  and  handle,  but  it  can  kindle  and  enkindle.  In  short  it 
is  the  anthracite  temperament.  The  dalesmen — using  the 
word  generally — have  the  temperament  and  the  tradition  of 
icvivalism,  and  they  will  be  wise  for  themselves  and  for  the 
Connexion,  if  they  yield  to  their  temperament  and  conserve 
and  carry  on  the  tradition. 

Some  account  has  already  been  given  of  the  establishment 
of  our  cause  in  Hexham,  and  reference  has  also  been  made  to 
the  extensive  area  of  the  circuit  and  the  part  it  took  in 
early  missionary  operations.  Contemporary  journals  serve 
to  complete  the  picture,  by  giving  us  glimpses  of  some  of  the 
more  notable  men  and  women  who  in  their  time  contributed 
to  the  working  and  maintenance  of  the  Hexham  Circuit. 
Invaluable  in  this  regard  is  the  manuscript  Autobiography  of 
the  late  Rev.  C.  C.  McKechnie,  who  was  on  the  station  in  1841-2 — just  at  the  end  of 
the  first  period.  Occasionally  we  shall  borrow  from  his  graphic  characterisations,  and 
by  so  doing  enrich  our  pages. 

After  a  time  the   old    Malt-kiln   was    left   for  the   chapel  in  Bull  Bank,  with  the 
preacher's  hoxise  at  its  side.      This  served  the  uses  of  the  Hexham  Society  until  1863, 
when  the  ''  Hebbron  Memorial  Chapel"  was  opened.     Now,  after  other  forty  years  have 
passed,  a  remove  is  again  about  to  be  made  to  a  splendid  site  at  the  junction  of  four 
principal  streets,  not  more  than  one  hundred  yards  from  the  original  Malt-kiln.       The 
mention  of  the  "  Hebbron  Memorial "  naturally  leads  to  a  reference  to  "the  Ridley  family 
of  which  Mrs.  Hebbron  was  a  member.     At  the  time  Primitive  Methodism  was  first 
brought  to  Hexham,  the  brothers  Ridley  occupied  a  good  position  and  were  deservedly 
held  in  respect  in  the  town.      Though  associated  with  the  Congregational  Church  they 
showed  a  very  friendly  spirit  to  our  newly-planted  cause.     Their  only  sister  was  induced 
to  attend  the  services,  and  under  a  sermon  by  Rev.  W.  Garner, 
Miss  Ridley  was  led  to  make  the  great  decision,  and  to  cast  in  her 
lot  with  our  people.       A  little  romance  now  began  :    Miss  Ridley 
became  the  betrothed  of  Rev.  W.  Garner ;   her  friends  disapproved 
of  the  match,  and  took    their    own    method  to  ensure  its  being 
broken.     Each  thought  the  other  false  and  each  was  wrong.     But 
Miss  Ridley  was  destined  after  all  to  be  the  wife  of  a  Primitive 
Methodist  preacher.     The  Rev.  Henry  Hebbron  became  her  suitor, 
and  a  successful  one.      He   was   a  gentleman  by  birth,  and  un- 
mistakably one  in  appearance  and  manner,  and  with  expectations. 
This  time  the  fates  interposed  no  bar.      In  their  union  there  was 
a   convergence    of    several    ancestral    lines   associated    with   the 
evangelical  succession.     Miss  Ridley  belonged  to  a  family  which  could  boast  of  its  con- 
nection with  the  Ridleys  of  Williamswick^a  family  to  which  belonged  the  martyr  Ridley, 
while  on  the  maternal  side  she  Avas  related  to  Thomas  Scott  the  commentator.      On  his 


MRS.    E.    HEBBRON. 


158 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


MK.  JAMES   DAVI8ON. 


side,  Mr.  Hebbron  was  the  cousin  of  the  Rev.  David  Simpson — the  author  of  the 
once  well-known  "Plea  for  Religion."  Being  left  with  ample  means  Mrs.  Hebbron 
thought  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  her  husband,  who  died  in  1860,  by  building  a  chapel 
for  the  denomination  in  Hexham.  On  the  day— June  24th, 
1863 — the  chapel  should  have  been  opened,  Mrs.  Hebbron  died, 
and  her  remains  were  brought  from  Potto  and  were  interred  by 
those  of  her  husband  in  Hexham  cemetery. 

Besides  the  Ridleys  of  Hexham,  reference  must  be  made  to 
Mr.  James  Davison  of  Dean  Row.  Mr.  McKechnie  thus  speaks 
of  him : — 

"  In  the  west  part  of  the  Hexham  Circuit  we  had  some  most 
interesting  people,  among  the  rest  James  Davison,  schoolmaster 
of  Dean  Row,  stood  prominent.     Mr.  Davison  was  a  remarkable 
man,   slow  and    somewhat    hesitant  of    speech,    but  clear  and 
penetrating  in  his    judgment,   consecutive   and    forcible   in  his 
reasonings,  and  withal  of  a  generous,  ardent,  passionate  temperament.      He  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  building  up  and  consolidating  of  the   Hexham  Circuit, 
and  often  attended  district  meeting  and  conference  as  circuit  delegate." 

As  everybody  knows,  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  was  a  "  Tynechild  "—born  and  brought  up  at 
Hexham.  Probably  neither  he  nor  his  father  was  at  any  time  actually  connected  with 
our  Church,  but  they  frequently  attended  its  services,  and  it  is  about  certain  that  much 
of  young  Parker's  early  preaching  was  done  in  connection  with  our  agencies,  and  that 
he  delivered  his  first  temperance  address  in  a  Primitive  Methodist  chapel.  Several  of 
our  ministers  were  frequent  visitors  to  the  home  of  the  Parkers,  and  with  the  Rev. 
R.  Fenwick  he  kept  up  an  intermittent  correspondence  almost  to  the  end.  Though 
therefore  we  may  not  be  able  to  claim  so  large  a  part  in  Dr.  Parker  as  in  C.  H.  Spurgeon 
or  Dr.  Landelis,  we  may  fairly  claim  to  have  had  some  small  share  in  his  early  develop- 
ment. Dr.  Parker,  however,  is  brought  in  here  mainly  because  of  his  early  relations 


REV.    C.    HALLAM. 


MRS.    HALLAM. 


REV.    HENRY   TOOLI.. 


with  Mr.  James  Davison.  Something  of  the  calibre  of  the  latter  may  be  learned  from 
the  famous  preacher's  juvenile  estimate  of  him.  In  a  letter  of  the  most  intimate  kind 
addressed  to  the  schoolmaster  of  Dean  Row,  he  says :  "  Mr.  Davison  has  been  a  name 
ever  associated  in  my  mind  with  boundless  kindness,  cultivated  intellect  and  open 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  159 

straight-forwardness."  *  "  Mr.  Davison  and  Primitive  Methodist  Camp  Meetings  !  " 
was  the  exclamation  with  which  he  greeted  his  old  friend  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  paid 
to  Haydonbridge  long  after  he  had  become  famous.  Evidently  memory  still  retained 
in  her  niche  the  image  of  Mr.  Davison  as  the  representative  figure  of  Hexamshire 
Primitive  Methodism. 

In  Mr.  McKechnie's  manuscript  pages  we  get  pleasant  glimpses  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  Hexham  Circuit  in  this  year — 1842.  Two  of  these  bore  names  which  their  sons 
have  perpetuated  and  made  familiar  to  Primitive  Methodists  of  a  later  generation. 
Christopher  Hallam,  "warm-hearted,  genial,"  was  one  of  these,  and  Henry  Yooll,  "a  man 
of  devout  spirit,  who  attended  well  to  pastoral  duties  and  was  well  received  as 
a  preacher,"  was  another.  Mrs.  Hallam  might  have  been  reckoned  as  yet  another 
colleague,  for  she  frequently  preached  in  the  Hexham  Circuit,  as  she  did  in  all  the 
circuits  in  which  her  lot  was  cast,  and  always  with  much  acceptance.  Indeed,  though 
Mrs.  Hallam  was  not  a  travelling  preacher  in  the  technical  sense,  she  was  known 
throughout  the  northern  counties  as  a  woman  of  special  gifts  and  usefulness.  Especially 
was  this  the  case,  as  we  shall  see,  in  Scotland  where  Mrs.  Hallam  left  enduring  memories 
of  herself.  Mr.  McKechnie  speaks  of  her  "  wide,  intellectual  outlook,"  and  claims  for 
her  that  she  had  a  mental  equipment  that  would  have  been  creditable  to  any  minister  of 
the  gospel. 

Mr.  McKechnie  makes  grateful  mention  too  of  the  kindness  and  connexional  loyalty 
of  the  Lowes  of  Cowburn  and  Galisharigg,  and  draws  an  interesting  picture  of  some  of 
the  Sunday  afternoon  services  at  Cowburn.  These  had  certain  features  all  their  own ; 
for  the  congregation  was  largely  made  up  of  stalwart  shepherds  from  the  hills  who,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  came  accompanied  by  their  collies.  The  dogs  were  expected  to 
behave  themselves,  and  usually  did  so,  lying  quietly  under  their  masters'  forms.  But 
sometimes  what  began  in  provocative  growls  would  end  in  a  downright  fight,  and  the 
preacher  had  to  pause  till  order  was  restored.  Mr.  McKechnie  had  his  turn  on  the 
Rothbury  Mission,  and  has  a  good  word  for  the  steward  of  Brinkburn  Priovy  on  the 
East  Coquet,  who  was  a  warm-hearted  and  devoted  friend  of  the  cause ;  and  especially 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Thornton,  an  extensive  sheep-farmer  of  Cambo,  some  twelve  or  fourteen 
miles  south  of  Rothbury.  Mr.  Thornton  had  gathered  much  worldly  substance,  but 
subordinated  everything  to  religion.  He  was  a  loyal-hearted  Primitive,  entertained  the 
preachers  bountifully,  and  in  other  ways  supported  and  helped  to  extend  the  cause. 

For  twenty  years  Hexham  Circuit  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  having  within  its  borders 
the  owner  of  an  ancient  name  and  of  an  ancient  demesne,  who  was  as  thorough 
a  Primitive  Methodist  as  any  one  could  wish  to  meet.  Even  in  Northumberland,  where 
pedigree  counts  for  much,  Robert  Ingram  Shafto's  claim  to  belong  to  a  good,  old,  county 
family  was  unimpeachable.  Now,  though  our  early  preachers  in  their  incessant 
journey  ings  to  and  fro  often  saw  the  stately  homes  of  England,  they  usually  saw 
them  through  the  park  palings,  or  from  a  distant  eminence.  They  seldom  came  in 
-contact  with  the  owners  of  these  mansions  except  at  Quarter  Sessions.  It  was  indeed 

*  See  the  article  "  Dr.  Parker  "  in  "  Primitive  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,"  April,  1903,  written 
by  Eev.  M.  P.  Davison,  the  son  of  Mr.  James  Davison.  The  date  of  the  letter  is  May  14th,  1850. 


160  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

a  novel,  if  not  a  unique,  experience  to  be  able  to  feel  that  the  owner  of  Bavington  Hall 
was  a  brother  Primitive  ;  that,  notwithstanding  his  long  pedigree  and  his  rent-roll,  he 
had  his  name  in  the  class-book  ;  that  he  liked  nothing  better  than  to  have  Primitive 
Methodists  on  his  estate  and  round  his  table,  and  enjoyed  a  camp  meeting  with  as  much 
zest  as  his  shepherd  or  ploughman.  But  so  it  was  ;  and  we  need  not  be  surprised  if 
Squire  Shafto  and  Bavington  Hall  rather  impressed  the  imagination  of  our  people,  and 
if,  even  yet,  the  names  are  invested  with  a  certain  glamour.  Mr.  MeKeclmie  was,  of 
course,  in  his  turn  a  guest  at  Bavington  Hall,  and  as  we  know  of  no  better  description 
of  it  than  the  one  he  has  given,  we  shall  here  borrow  from  it. 

"  Bavington  Hall  stands  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Hexham,  on  the  borders  of  a 
rugged  tract  of  country  mostly  moorland,  which  stretches  away  in  monotonous  dreari- 
ness towards  the  Cheviot  Hills.  The  estate  to  which  it  belongs,  though  not  one  of  the 
largest  in  Northumberland,  covers  a  considerable  extent  of  country,  and  has  been  the 
property  of  the  Shafto  family  for  many  generations.  The  Hall  itself  is  not  a  specially 
attractive  object  in  the  landscape.  It  is  a  spacious  but  heavy-looking  building,  with 
little  or  no  ornamentation,  evidently  constructed  more  for  comfort  and  convenience 
than  for  beauty  of  appearance. 

"  Seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  Bavington  Hall  was  well  known  to  the  Primitives  in 
the  North  of  England.  Such  of  them  as  had  not  seen  it  had  often  heard  of  it.  It  had 
indeed  become  among  them  a  sort  of  household  word.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  only  house 
in  England  where  Primitive  Methodism  had  obtained  a  vital  connection  with  the  gentry 
of  the  country.  The  Squire  then  in  possession  was  a  younger  son  who,  after  finishing  his 
course  of  education  at  Cambridge,  had  settled  at  Sunderland  as  a  solicitor.  There  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  our  early  preachers,  experienced  the  regenerating  power  of 
God's  grace,  and  united  with  the  Society.  On  succeeding  to  the  Bavington  estate,  he 
did  not  hide  his  light  under  a  bushel.  In  a  simple,  unostentatious  way,  without  noise 
or  parade,  but  not  the  less  effectually,  he  made  it  pretty  widely  understood  that  he  was 
a  Primitive,  and  intended  his  life  to  be  in  harmony  with  his  religious  profession.  He 
opened  a  communication  with  the  authorities  of  the  Hexham  Circuit,  invited  the 
preachers  to  the  Hall,  and  made  arrangements  for  the  formation  of  a  Society  and 
Sunday  school  for  the  holding  of  regular  preaching  services,  and  the  erection  of 
a  chapel.  The  work  of  evangelising  the  neighbourhood  on  Primitive  lines  also  com- 
menced in  good  earnest.  Not  only  in  the  surrounding  hamlets,  but  in  several  outlying 
farmhouses,  this  good  work  was  vigorously  carried  on.  Mr.  Shafto  himself  became 
a  local  preacher,  and  had  his  name  on  the  preachers'  plan,  though  he  did  not  preach 
much.  He  considered  the  Sunday  school  his  proper  sphere,  and  for  many  years  he 
rendered  much  devoted  and  loving  service  as  school  superintendent.  To  strengthen 
the  infant  cause  and  increase  its  working  power,  members  and  local  preachers  from 
a  distance  were,  at  Mr.  Shafto's  instance,  offered  inducements  to  settle  on  the  estate  ; 
and  Bavington  soon  became  noted  all  round  the  country-side  as  a  centre  and  stronghold 
of  Primitive  Methodism.  While  liberally  supporting  circuit  and  connexional  funds, 
Mr.  Shafto  took  special  interest  in  our  Rothbury  Mission.  For  a  while,  at  least,  it  was 
chiefly  sustained  by  himself  ;  and  the  preacher  stationed  there  was  encouraged  to  ask 
him  for  any  special  help  he  might  require  in  working  what  was  then  a  much-neglected 
and  semi-barbarous  region.  The  gentry  around  Bavington,  though  much  shocked  with 
Mr.  Shafto's  proceedings,  prudently  abstained  from  breaking  with  him  openly,  thinking, 
probably,  opposition  would  have  the  effect  of  increasing  rather  than  abating  the 
annoyance.  Mr.  Shafto  kept  little  company,  none  at  all  of  a  gay  or  worldly  character. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


161 


He  restricted  himself  almost  entirely  to  the  preachers  and  other  prominent  members  of 
the  Connexion.  The  Hall  was  seldom,  for  any  length  of  time,  without  company  of  this 
kind.  On  special  occasions,  when  preachers  of  note  were  present,  the  clergyman  of  the 
parish  would  probably  be  an  invited  guest ;  but  it  was  noteworthy  that,  though  treated 
with  perfect  respect,  no  greater  deference  was  paid  to  him  than  to  our  own  preachers. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes  they  were  treated  alike  .... 

"Mr.  Shafto  was  a  modest, 
warm-hearted,  unpretending 
gentleman,  who  might  be 
approached  and  conversed 
with  by  the  humblest  person 
with  the  utmost  freedom.  His 
personal  appearance  was  not 
impressive.  He  was  somewhat 
under  the  middle  size ;  his 
countenance,  though  pleasant, 
had  no  striking  features;  his 
dress  was  plain,  and  his  man- 
ners, while  perfectly  correct, 
were  simple  and  homely. 
Nature  had  not  gifted  him 
with  the  higher  qualities  of 
mind ;  but  he  had  good  sense 
and  a  sound  judgment,  and 
his  University  education  gave 
marked  propriety  and  polish 

to  his  speech I  often 

rioted  he  never  seemed  to 
tire  talking  about  Primitive 
Methodism.  So  completely  had 
the  Connexion  filled  the  orb 
of  his  vision  that  he  seemed 
to  take  little  cognisance  of 
other  churches.  The  Church 
of  England  he  regarded  as  a 
fallen  Church  hastening  to 
extinction ;  nothing  could  save 
it — so  he  thought  and  said. 
Primitive  Methodism,  on  the 
other  hand,  would,  beyond  all 
doubt,  grow  and  multiply  and 
fill  the  land.  More  than  once 
I  have  heard  him  say  it  was 
sure  to  take  the  place  of  the 


HUGH   BOURNE  AT   BAVINGTON    HALL. 


<j      vufj.*.^      i/AAv>      ^/J.CIV'C;      \JL       UI1C 

State  Church  ;  and  the  wonder  to  him  was  that  everybody  did  not  see  this  as  clearly  as 
himself.  Such  sentiments  would  be  set  down  now-a-days  as  foolish  extravagance  ;  but 
it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  when  Mr.  Shafto  dreamt  these  dreams  and  saw  these 
visions,  the  Church  of  England  was  at  its  nadir,  while  Primitive  Methodism  was  like 
a  young  giant,  full  of  life  and  blood,  prodigal  of  its  strength,  and  marching  on  exultingly 
from  conquering  to  conquer."  I, 


162  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

Hugh  Bourne,  as  well  as  others  of  the  fathers,  was  an  occasional  visitor  at  Bavington 
Hall ;  and  stories  are  not  wanting  of  the  way  in  which  its  mistress,  pleasant  hostess 
though  she  was,  would  take  note  of  his  idiosyncrasies,  and  would  engage  him'  in 
discussions  in  which  the  advantage  was  not  always  on  his  side.  For  Mrs.  Shafto 
loved  an  encounter  of  argument  and  wit  and  was  a  woman  of  strong  convictions.  She 
rallied  him  on  his  extravagance,  plain  to  see  in  the  tell-tale  sediment  at  the  bottom  of 
his  cup  !  His  alarm  and  contrition  when  the  peccadillo  was  brought  home  to  him  was 
one  of  her  cherished  recollections.  She  vanquished  his  scruples  as  to  signing  the  pledge, 
and  though  he  claimed  "the  teetotallers  had  joined  him,"  he  came  out  from  that 
entrenchment  and  admitted  the  cogency  of  her  arguments.  Many  a  scene  like  that  our 
artist  has  tried  to  picture  was  enacted  in  the  drawing-room  of  Bavington,  and  perhaps 
imagination  may  be  able  even  to  improve  upon  the  picture  the  artist  has  drawn.  But 
there  was  to  be  an  end  of  them.  Squire  Shafto  died  April  5th,  1848,  and  a  new  Squire, 
came  into  possession  who  knew  not  the  Primitives.  The  chapel  was  alienated  and 
a  blight  came  over  the  fair  prospect. 

"  So  sleeps  the  pride  of  former  days, 
So  glory's  thrill  is  o'er." 


THE   PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  163 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE   MAKING   OF   SUNDERLAND   DISTRICT  (continued). 
III. — THE  NORTHERN  MISSION. 

HE  story  of  the  Northern  Mission  has  now  to  be  told.  The  success  of  this 
mission  was  in  every  way  remarkable — so  remarkable  indeed  as  evidently 
to  have  been  beyond  expectation,  and  even  somewhat  embarrassing.  How 
the  new  territory  thus  gained  and  added  on  to  the  Connexion  was  to  be 
apportioned  and  administered,  raised  some  problems  which  had  at  once  to  be  dealt  with. 
Pre-existing  arrangements  were  modified.  A  new  District  unthought  of  at  the  Conference 
of  1823  was  extemporised.  Five  new  northern  circuits,  which  had  been  made  during 
the  year,  had  to  be  represented  at  some  District  Meeting.  The  district  to  which  they 
geographically  belonged  was  Brompton,  which,  in  1823,  included  North  Shields ;  but, 
as  we  see  from  the  Minutes  of  1823,  no  district  was  supposed  to  comprise  more  than 
six  circuits,  whereas,  if  Hexham,  Carlisle,  North  and  South  Shields,  Newcastle,  and 
Sunderland  sent  their  representatives  to  Brompton  District  Meeting,  that  District  would 
have  eleven  circuits  instead  of  six.  So  the  six  northern  circuits  were  provisionally 
formed  into  an  entirely  new  District,  which  had  its  first  meeting  at  South  Shields  on 
Easter  Monday,  1824.  The  Conference  Minutes  make  no  mention  of  this  fresh  grouping 
of  the  northern  stations ;  but  that  it  took  place,  and  that  there  was  for  one  year  a  South 
Shields  District,  is  clear  from  an  interesting  entry  in  N.  West's  Journal,  which  is  worth 
giving,  as  bringing  before  us  in  a  vivid  way  the  progress  the  Connexion  had  made  in 
the  north-eastern  counties  in  two  short  years. 

"Monday,  April  19th. — Went  with  brothers  Anderson  and  Peckett  (delegates 
from  Sunderland)  to  South  Shields  District  [Meeting],  where  we  met  the  delegates 
from  North  Shields,  South  Shields,  Newcastle,  Hexham,  and  Carlisle.  The  District 
Meeting  lasted  till  Friday  the  23rd.  Much  peace  prevailed.  The  state  of  each 
circuit  was  prosperous,  the  whole  number  in  the  District  amounted  to  twenty 
travelling  preachers,  sixty-one  local  preachers  (not  including  exhorters),  and  3,632 
members.  We  have  great  reason  to  thank  the  Lord." 

Our  method  hitherto  has  been  to  relate  the  particular  history  of  a  circuit  to  the 
general  history ;  to  try  to  show  how  that  circuit  was  but  a  link  in  a  chain,  one  of 
a  series  of  stepping-stones,  a  brick  in  a  building,  supported  and  lending  support  to 
others.  Agreeably  to  this  method,  the  missioning  of  the  populous  towns  on  the  Tyne 
and  Wear  must  be  regarded  as  being,  in  its  beginning,  the  continuation  and  natural 
development  of  Hull's  Hutton  Rudby  and  East  Yorkshire  Missions.  In  1821,  Hutton 
Rudby  sent  Messrs.  J.  Branfoot  and  J.  Farrar  to  establish  a  cause  in  Guisborough, 
which  for  a  time  proved  very  successful.  After  this,  Mr.  Branfoot  found  his  way  to 

L  2 


164  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

Newcastle,  where,  in  all  these  northern  parts,  the  human  grain  stood  thickest  and  ripest. 
We  say  he  "  found  his  way  "  advisedly  ;  for.  whether  he  had  a  roving  commission  to  go 
where  he  thought  he  could  do  most  good,  and  so,  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  Christian 
knight-errant,  bent  his  steps  to  the  capital  of  the  North ;  or  whether  the  Hutton  Rudby 
Circuit  gave  him  a  definite  commission,  the  phrase  "  found  his  way  "  will,  in  either  case, 
suit  the  fact.  Though  as  yet  there  was  no  Primitive  Methodist  Society  in  Newcastle, 
there  were  those  resident  in  the  town  who  had  been  Primitive  Methodists,  and  who 
were  still  such  in  sympathy,  though  for  the  time  being  they  were  attached  to  a  sister 
community.  Among  these  were  Mr.  William  Morris,  whose  name  stands  on  the  first 
printed  plan  of  the  Tunstall  Circuit,  and  Mr.  John  Bagshaw,  also  a  local  preacher  of 
a  later  date,  and  who  was  shortly  to  become  a  travelling  preacher  in  the  Newcastle 
Circuit.  These  two  early  adherents  had  removed  from  Staffordshire  to  the  North  for 
the  sake  of  employment,  but  still  kept  in  touch  with  their  old  friends.  It  may  even 
have  been  that  when  Mr.  Branfoot  entered  Newcastle,  Mr.  Clowes  had  by  him  an 
invitation  from  these  two  old  comrades  to  visit  them,  and  was  only  waiting  the 
opportunity  to  accept  it.  The  visit  was  duly  paid  in  the  autumn  of  this  same  year,  and 
the  probability  is  that  it  was  paid  when  Mr.  Clowes  was  in  the  Hutton  Rudby 
neighbourhood.  It  was  during  this  visit  that  Clowes  preached  on  "the  Ascension  of 
Christ "  with  telling  effect.  He  was  better  advised  than  Mr.  Branfoot  in  fixing  upon  the 
Ballast  Hills  rather  than  the  end  of  Sandgate  as  the  locality  for  his  service ;  for  it  was 
in  the  Pandon  or  older  eastern  district  of  Newcastle  that  Primitive  Methodism  was 
destined  to  strike  its  earliest  roots.  It  chanced,  too,  that  on  this  first  of  August,  when 
Mr.  Branfoot  attempted  to  preach  near  Sandgate,  there  had  been  a  boat-race  on  the 
Tyne ;  and  what  that  means  every  Tynesider  will  know.  Mary  Porteus  was  there, 
and  she  has  told  us  that,  as  she  saw  Mr.  Branfoot  standing  on  a  stool,  with  the  rabble 
crowd  surging  round  him — some  swearing,  and  others  setting  dogs  on  to  fight — she 
thought  gospel-preaching  was  needed  there  and  then  just  as  much  as  when  John  Wesley 
preached  on  the  same  spot  eighty  years  before.  But  as  she  witnessed  the  good  man 
struggling  to  preach,  and  at  last  obliged  to  content  himself  with  words  of  warning  and 
exhortation,  she  thought  again  :  "  Surely  the  preacher  must  think  that  the  people  in  these 
northern  parts  are  little  better  than  heathens."  The  service  broke  up  in  confusion, 
though  not  before  Mr.  Branfoot  had  announced  his  intention  to 
preach  in  Gateshead  on  the  following  evening.  This  he  did, 
standing  beneath  some  trees  on  the  very  spot  where  Wesley  had 
once  stood  to  declare  the  word  of  life.  This  time  the  service 
was  orderly,  and  the  preacher  spoke  with  power  from,  "  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life." 

It  should  be  noted  that  during  his  visit  to  Newcastle,  Mr.  Branfoot 
was  the  guest  of  Mr.  John  Lightfoot,  who  is  said  to  have  been 
converted  at  Durham  through  the  agency  of  William  Brarnwell,  and 
through  his  good  offices  placed  in  a  business-house  in  Newcastle. 

JOHN   LIGHTFOOT.  ,,       T  .     ,      .  ,        .  . 

Mr.  L,ighttoot  was  the  leader  of  two  classes,  and  an  active  worker  m 
the  Wesleyan  Church.  Mr.  Branfoot's  visit,  though  a  brief  and  apparently  abortive  one, 
would  have  its  influence.  Later  in  the  day  of  this  same  first  of  August,  Mary  Porteus 


THE   PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


165 


was  surprised  to  receive  a  visit  from  Mr.  Lightfoot  and  his  guest.  She  counted  it  an 
honour  to  have  the  good  missionary  under  her  roof,  and  to  take  part  in  the  prayers 
which,  as  a  matter  of  course,  marked  the  visit.  Newcastle  made  ample  return  to 
Cleveland  for  sending  her  its  first  missionary ;  for  Mary  Porteus  began  her  ministry  in 
the  Guisborough  and  Whitby  Union  Circuit  in  January,  1826,  and  laboured  there 
two  and  a  half  years,  while  in  1827  John  Lightfoot  also  in  the  same  circuit  began  his 
useful  ministry  of  thirty-seven  years.  Thus  was  fulfilled  Christ's  saying :  "  Give,  and 
it  shall  be  given  you ;  good  measure." 

When  next  we  get  an  authentic  glimpse  of  John  Branfoot  he  is  holding  a  service  in 
the  spacious  market-place  of  South  Shields,  which  has  long  been  a  favourite  pitch  for 
those  who  have  something  to  sell  or  tell.  He  himself  has  given  us  the  date  of  this 


SOUTH   SHIELDS   MARKET-PLACE. 


first  service  :  "It  was  on  the  17th  of  December,  1821,"  he  says,  "when  we  first  opened 
the  place."  The  Market  Square,  as  Mr.  Branfoot  saw  it  in  the  dubious  light  of  that 
winter's  evening,  would  present  much  the  same  appearance  it  does  to-day,  except  that 
the  fronts  of  the  shops  that  line  three  of  its  sides  have  been  modernised.  In  the 
middle  stood  the  Town  House,  and  the  fourth  side  of  the  square  was  flanked  by  the  old 
ehurch  and  its  graveyard.  This  service  was  in  every  way  a  contrast  to  that  which 
Mr.  Branfoot  had  attempted  to  hold  in  Newcastle.  The  goodly  number  that  gathered 
round — pilots,  fishermen,  miners,  coal-heavers,  glass-workers — were  used  to  criers  and 
vendors  of  all  sorts,  but  this  one  was  different  from  the  rest,  and  must  be  listened  to. 
So  tradition  tells,  that  as  they  stood  there  nothing  broke  the  silence  save  the  preacher's 
voice,  and  when  he  had  done,  men  and  women  still  lingered  as  though  loath  to  leave 
the  spot. 


166  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

For  a  time  services  were  of  necessity  held  in  the  open-air;  then  two  houses  in 
Waterloo  Lane,  now  Oyston  Street,  were  thrown  into  one,  and  the  room  thus  formed 
served  as  a  shelter  and  home  for  the  small  society.  This  room  was  a  workshop  also,  as 
well  as  a  shelter,  and  in  it  work  went  on  which  made  less  work  for  the  police-court  and 
public-houses,  and  ensured  better  work  being  done  in  the  mine  and  glass-works.  Some 
who  had  led  vicious  lives  were  reformed,  and  their  reformation  was  manifest  in  the 
town.  Those  who  had  known  their  former  manner  of  life  recognised  the  change,  and 
had  the  candour  to  acknowledge  that  "good  work  was  being  done  in  the  Ranters' 
room."  So  the  society  soon  outgrew  its  first  habitation,  and  a  remove  was  made  to 
a  sail-loft  in  Wapping  Street,  hard  by  the  river.  The  third  and  topmost  story  of  this 
building  was  the  preaching-room.  It  was  reached  by  a  flight  of  stairs,  dark  and  steep ; 
the  room  was  open  to  the  ridge  of  the  roof,  and  dimly  lighted  by  small  windows  eked 
out  by  a  few  slabs  of  glass  inserted  here  and  there  among  the  tiles.  This  room  was 
opened  for  worship  by  W.  Clowes  on  October  20th,  1822.  "The  room,"  he  says,  "is 
nearly  thirty  yards  long,  but  more  came  than  could  get  in.  At  night  the  congregation 
seemed  to  be  all  on  a  move.  There  was  a  cry  out  for  mercy,  and  two  got  liberty. 
This  meeting,  I  conceive,  will  never  be  forgotten."  There  was  no  persecution 
met  with  at  South  Shields  worth  speaking  of.  A  few  youths  might  now  and  again 
put  out  the  lights  on  the  stair-way  of  the  sail-loft,  or  let  sparrows  loose  in  the  room 
itself;  but  this  was  only  their  way  of  finding  amusement,  and  these  youths  were  the 
very  material  out  of  which  promising  converts  were  made.  Indeed,  persecution  found 
no  favourable  soil  for  itself  in  these  northern  towns.  There  was  no  territorial  influence 
or  popular  sympathy  to  foster  it,  and  employers  of  labour  were  disposed  to  favour  rather 
than  to  discourage  a  movement  which,  in  its  first  evangelistic  phase,  was  so  plainly 
working  to  their  advantage.  So  the  sail-loft  was  crowded  and  converts  multiplied, 
until,  by  the  spring  of  1823,  we  find  the  society  deep  in  chapel-building.  A  piece  of 
glebe  land,  near  the  old  graveyard,  was  obtained  on  a  long  lease,  and  on  April  21st, 
1823,  the  foundation-stone  of  the  Glebe  Chapel  was  laid,  and  a  collection  of  £3  14s.  3d. 
taken  !  The  amount  suggests  that  the  society  was  financially  but  poorly  equipped  for 
the  formidable  task  to  which  it  was  committed ;  for,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three 
tradesmen,  such  as  Messrs.  Edward  Nettleship,  Joshua  Hairs,  and  John  Eobinson,  the 
members  were  worth  no  more  than  their  weekly  wage.  The  building  of  the  chapel  was 
not  contracted  for ;  it  was  done  by  the  day,  and  paid  for  as  the  work  proceeded.  The 
first  service  was  held  in  August,  when  it  was  a  mere  shell  of  a  building,  and  even  when 
it  was  formally  opened  in  November,  it  was  still  unfinished,  and  remained  so  for  some 
years.  It  would  seem  that  the  Glebe  might  have  been  lost  to  the  Connexion  in  this 
time  of  searching  and  trial,  had  it  not  been  for  Mr.  John  Eobinson,  who  was  better  off 
than  the  rest.  By  diligent  trading  he  had  got  together  means  which  his  careful  and 
inexpensive  habits  of  life  made  it  easy  for  him  to  keep  together  and  increase.  He  came 
to  the  rescue  of  the  trustees  just  at  the  time  of  their  direst  need,  when  they  could  do 
little  more  than  pray  for  deliverance.  He  advanced  1'460,  and  some  smaller  amounts 
were  advanced  by  others,  which  gave  a  measure  of  relief.  In  the  end,  Mr.  Robinson 
took  upon  him  the  whole  financial  responsibility  and  much  of  the  practical  management 
of  the  trust  estate,  and  bore  the  burthen  until  the  society  was  in  a  position  to  shoulder 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


167 


the  responsibility.  Ko  wonder  our  fathers  were  firm  believers  in  a  Providence,  and  had 
a  special  "  Providence  Department "  in  their  Magazine.  It  was  by  such  experiences  as 
these  the  conviction  was  inwrought  that  God  had  interposed  on  their  behalf.  That 
conviction  was  recorded  on  the  front  of  the  sanctuary  which,  in  no  conventional  sense, 
was  regarded  as  their  "  Ebenezer  "—their  "  God's  Providence  House."  "  What  building 


MR.    JOHN"   BRACK. 


MR.     ALEXANDER    THOMPSON. 


is  this  ? ''  asked  a  man  of  his  companion  as  they  passed  the  Glebe.  Before  the  other 
could  make  reply,  a  boy,  who  was  playing  among  the  rubbish,  broke  in :  "  It's  the 
'Ranters"  Chapel."  "Why,  how  in  the  world  have  these  folk  got  such  a  building  as 
this  1 "  was  the  exclamation  of  this  "  man  of  the  street,"  expressing  a  surprise  natural  in 


MR.    GEORGE    BIRD. 


MRS.    ROBINSON. 


MR.    J.    ROBINSON. 


MR.    WILLIAM  OWEN. 


one  not  aware  of  God's  partnership  in  the  venture.  "  If  you  will  go  round  to  the  other 
side  you  will  see,"  said  the  boy.  They  went  and  read :  "  Hitherto  the  Lord  hath 
helped  us."  Joseph  Spoor  used  to  tell  this  little  anecdote  with  zest.  But,  indeed,  it  is 
more  than  an  anecdote ;  it  is  also  a  parable,  with  an  obvious  moral,  setting  forth  the 
history  of  many  of  our  early  chapels — notably  of  the  Glebe.  Despite  all  the  changes  of 


168  PRIMITIVE  METHODIST   CHURCH. 

the  years,  that  chapel  has  had  a  continuous  history.  There  is  still  the  Glebe  Chapel  as 
there  is  still  St.  Sepulchre  Street.  Eighty  years  have  but  served  to  impart  a  richer 
suggestiveness  to  the  old  name,  and  to  make  the  pious  legend,  "Hitherto  the  Lord 
hath  helped  us,"  still  more  pertinent. 

Meanwhile,  during  this  prolonged  crisis,  the  spiritual  side  of  the  Church's  work  was 
diligently  attended  to  by  the  few  faithful  men  who  stood  to  their  posts.  The  whole  of 
Werewickshire — the  district  lying  between  the  Tyne  and  "Wear — was  missioned  as  far 
west  as  Chester-le-Street,  Ouston,  Pelton,  and  the  collieries  by  the  Wear  beyond 
Washington.  The  places  thus  opened  were  made  into  a  circuit  in  September,  1823, 
Joshua  Hairs  being  the  first  Circuit  Steward.  "  A  short  time  before  the  circuit  was 
formed,  a  few  members  from  the  sail-loft  missioned  the  colliery  at  the  west  end  of  the 
town  and  established  services  there.  A  class  was  soon  formed,  the  leader  of  which 
was  a  publican.  This  society  [Templetown]  met  in  cottages  and  other  places,  till 
circumstances  favoured  the  erection  of  a  small  place  of  worship."  *  At  the  first  Circuit 
Quarterly  Meeting,  held  December  9th,  1823,  there  were  twenty-three  places  with  552 
members ;  three  months  later  the  membership  was  760,  the  quarter  having  witnessed 
an  increase  of  208. 

Our  space  will  permit  us  to  do  little  more  than  allude  to  one  or  two  out  of  the  many 
officials  who  have  contributed  to  the  extension  and  upbuilding  of  the  South  Shields 
Circuit.  Unfortunately  no  portrait  is  procurable  of  Mr.  John  Robinson,  whose  praise- 
worthy efforts  to  preserve  the  Glebe  to  the  Connexion  have  been  referred  to ;  but  we 
give  the  likenesses  of  his  son — Mr.  John  Robinson,  shipowner,  and  late  Circuit  Steward, 
and  of  his  excellent  wife,  whose  life  was  full  of  good  works.  Other  faithful  men 
and  active  officials  were  Messrs.  George  Bird,  Richard  Bulmer,  Alexander  Thompson, 
son-in-law  of  Rev.  John  Day,  and  father  of  Rev.  J.  Day  Thompson,  J.  Brack,  a  most 
estimable  man,  and  William  Owen,  a  once  very  familiar  figure  to  the  riverine 
inhabitants  of  both  the  Shields,  who  could  preach  a  sermon,  and  steer  his  ponderous 
ferry-boat  across  the  Tyne,  with  equal  skill. 

NORTH  SHIELDS. 

On  Tuesday,  February  5th,  1822,  W.  Clowes  crossed  over  from  North  to  South  Shields, 
and  heard  J.  Branfoot  of  Hutton  Rudby  Circuit  preach.  Referring  to  South  Shields, 
he  writes :  "  If  he  had  not  taken  it,  we  [the  Hull  Circuit]  should  now  have  taken  it. 
So  we  are  shoulder  to  shoulder.  I  think  we  are  now  likely  to  spread  through  the 
North."  Only  three  days  before,  Clowes  had  arrived  from  the  Darlington  branch 
in  order  to  begin  a  mission  at  North  Shields.  He  had  come  at  the  invitation  of 
Joseph  Peart  who,  four  years  before,  had  left  his  native  Alston  Moor  and  was  now 
a  schoolmaster  at  Chirton.  Why  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher  in  good  standing,  as 
Joseph  Peart  was  at  the  time,  should  have  taken  such  a  step  as  this,  he  himself  has 
told  us.  The  explanation  he  gives  shows  that,  at  North  Shields  as  elsewhere,  there 
existed,  side  by  side,  two  variant  and  competing  types  of  Methodism  which  found  it 
difficult  to  live  and  work  together  without  friction.  The  experience — so  common  as 

*  Notes  by  the  late  Rev.  John  Atkinson. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  169 

to  be  a  characteristic  of  the  time — goes  far  to  explain  and  justify  the  rise  and  spread 
of  Primitive  Methodism. 

"One  day  I  was  alone  in  my  room,  studying  how  I  could  best  glorify  God  in 
supporting  His  blessed  work  ;  for  there  had  frequently  been  antagonists  to  great 
outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  even  amongst  the  professed  members  of  the  Church. 
They  could  not  endure  the  natural  results  of  such  visitations,  but  looked  upon  it 
as  wildfire,  disorder,  confusion,  enthusiasm,  etc.  I  had  a  very  strong  debate  with 
a  professor  of  the  dead  languages  who,  as  well  as  myself,  belonged  to  the  society 
of  the  Old  .Methodists.  While  contending  with  him  in  vindication  of  the  rationality 
and  great  utility  of  such  a  work  as  had  been  effected  in  North  Shields,  about  five 
years  previous  to  that  time,  by  an  extraordinary  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
he,  by  way  of  derision,  said,  'You  should  have  been  a  "Ranter"'  It  powerfully 
wrought  on  my  mind,  as  I  sat  in  the  room,  that  it  was  my  indispensable  duty  to 
send  for  the  '  Ranters '  (so  called).  The  circumstance  was  very  singular  ;  for  I  had 
never  heard  and  never  seen  any  of  them.  '  I  was  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly ' 
call,  but  wrote  for  William  Clowes,  who  shortly  arrived  at  our  house,  and  stopped 
till  the  cause  got  established." 

Mr.  Clowes  had  preached  at  North  Shields  in  the  autumn  of  1821,  when  he  visited 
his  Newcastle  friends.  He  had  always  his  "  seed-basket "  with  him ;  and  he  had 
preached  during  this  flying  visit,  on  the  principle  of  "  sowing  beside  all  waters,"  even 
when  he  was  not  likely  to  enjoy  the  fruits.  Now,  however,  he  was  here  for  the  double 
purpose  of  sowing  and  reaping.  February  3rd,  1822,  is  reckoned  by  him  as  the  date 
when  North  Shields  as  a  new  outfield  was  first  opened.  On  that  Sunday  evening  he 
preached  at  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  in  a  schoolroom  belonging  to  Mr.  Webster, 
who  had  granted  them  the  use  of  it  for  a  month,  rent  free.  The  town-crier  was 
sent  round  to  let  the  public  know  what  was  afoot,  and  the  room  was  thronged.  Next 
night,  after  a  preaching  service  in  the  same  room,  the  first  class  was  formed  consisting 
of  three  members,  two  of  whom  became  travelling  preachers  before  the  year  was  out. 
One  of  these,  and  the  first  to  have  his  name  enrolled  as  member  and  leader,  was 
Joseph  Peart,  who  began  his  fourteen  years'  ministry  in  Hull's  north-eastern  branches. 
The  other  was  William  Summersides,  the  missioner  of  Carlisle  and  Whitehaven,  one 
of  Hull's  first  missionaries  to  the  United  States,  and,  on  his  temporary  return  in  1838, 
the  advocate  and  promoter  of  Protracted  Meetings.  When,  at  the  end  of  three  weeks, 
W.  Clowes  returned  to  Darlingtbn,  he  had  formed  a  second  class  at  the  upper  part  of 
North  Shields ;  had  preached  at  Howden  Pans  "  to  a  thousand  of  a  congregation,  in 
general  well  behaved " ;  and  visited  Blyth,  "  where  there  appeared  to  be  an  opening 
for  the  work  of  the  Lord." 

With  an  improvement  in  its  "temporal  concerns,"  and  influenced  by  the  representations 
of  W.  Clowes,  the  March  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Hull  Circuit  decided  to  take 
over  the  Northern  Mission  from  Hutton  Rudby.  After  his  three  weeks'  experience, 
W.  Clowes  was  more  confident  than  when,  at  the  end  of  three  days,  he  had  written  : 
"  /  think  we  are  now  likely  to  spread  through  the  North,"  Now  he  was  persuaded 
that  the  work  only  needed  to  be  pushed  forward  and  followed  up  vigorously  in  order 
to  be  a  signal  success,  and  it  is  evident  he  brought  his  brethren  to  see  as  he  did  and  to 
share  his  confidence.  So,  in  a  communication  to  the  Magazine  sent  by  Mr.  R.  Jackson 


170  PRIMITIVE  METHODIST  CHURCH. 

on  Ike  morrow  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  we  are  told :  **  Brother  Clowes  left  Hull  on 
the  18th  inst  for  Newrastle-on-Tyne,  Sundedand,  Shields,  etc.  We  are  going  to  send 
Ani  preachers  into  Northumberland  this  quarter,'  Then  follows  an  allusion  to  the 
favourable  opening  presented  by  Blyth,  on  which,  no  doubt,  Mr.  Clowes  had  dilated : 
"  There  appears  to  be  a  good  opening  in  one  town,  near  the  seaside*  which  is  about 
140  miles  from  Hull" 

The  Hull  authorities  had  faith  in  the  future  of  the  Northern  Mission,  and  gave  bond 
for  their  faith  by  appointing  to  il  John  and  Thomas  Nelson  as  the  fellow-labourers  of 
W.  Clowes,  The  brothers,  who  sprang  from  a  Tillage  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Whitby, 
rendered  unforgettable  service  to  the  Connexion  in  its  early  days. .  In  the  North  their 
mmftr  are  deservedly  held  in  high  esteem.  Contemporary  journals,  biographies,  and 
tradition,  bear  concurrent  testimony  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  work  they  did  in 
pioneering  Primitive  Methodism  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Northumberland  and  Durham. 
Of  the  two  brothers,  Thomas  Nelson  was  slightly  the  elder,  and  by  a  few  months  was  first 
in  the  field.  He  had  a  good  share  of  natural  ability,  and  a  more  than  common  «eal  in 
winning  souls.  He  preached  almost  exclusively  in  the  open-air  when  in  the  North, 
and  often  to  immense  congregations.  Whether  in  this  as  in 
other  cases  which  have  come  under  our  notice,  "the  fiery 
soul  o'er-informed  the  house  .of  clay,"  and  subjected  it  to 
a  strain  that  could  not  long  be  endured,  we  know  not; 
but  this  is  certain — Thomas  Nelson  travelled  only  seven 
or  eight  years.  His  last  circuit  was  Birmingham.  Here,  in 
1828,  his  health  failed,  and  he  settled  down  at  Rothweli, 
near  Leeds,  where  he  died  February,  1848,  aged  51  yeans. 
The  model  minister,  John  Wesley  tells  us,  should  have 
"gifts,  grace,  and  fruit"  Thomas  Nelson  shaped  himself 
after  this  pattern. 

John  Nelson  entered  the  itinerant  ranks  in  December,  1820. 
He  had  the  advantage  of  his  brother  as  to  physique,  being 

tall  of  stature  and  strongly  built,  his  countenance  pleasing,  and  his  presence  commanding. 
In  him  were  united  eeal  and  industry,  considerable  intellectual  power  and  fluent  utter- 
ance— a  combination  of  qualities  which  naturally  rendered  his  ministry  popular  and 
attractive,  John  Nelson  entered,  too,  the  ranks  of  authorship ;  but  he  took  his  place 
there  as  the  precursor  of  J.  A.  Bastow,  John  Petty,  James  Garner,  and  Thomas 
Greenfield,  not  as  a  Biblical  scholar  or  systematic  theologian,  but  as  a  preacher  still. 
The  volume  of  "  Sermons  and  Lectures  "  he  published — the  bulkiest  and  highest-priced 
book  as  yet  given  to  the  press  by  a  Primitive  Methodist  preacher — was  a  souvenir 
of  his  ministry  in  Hull  in  1828 — 9.  It  consisted  of  a  series  of  diimmm — doctrinal, 
practical,  and  experimental — delivered  on  Sunday  evenings  when,  in  his  turn,  he 
occupied  the  town  pulpit  Unfortunately  for  our  Church  and  unfortunately  for 
himself,  too,  we  believe,  John  Nelson  afterwards  withdrew  from  the  Connexion.  But 
this  withdrawal  did  not  take  place  until  some  years  after  the  time  of  which  we  are 
writing,  and  does  not  concern  us  here. 

Close  upon  a  year  after  their  appointment  to  the  North  Mission,  the  three  yoke- 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  171 

fellows  met  at  North  Shields,  for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  preparatory  Quarterly 
Meeting.  They  slept  under  Dr.  Oxley's  roof,  which  for  once  failed  to  afford  a  safe 
shelter.  A  tragedy  like  that  which,  in  the  night  of  February  27th,  1903,  was  fatal 
to  the  estimable  \V.  li.  de  Winton,  was  all  but  rehearsed.  Seldom  are  men  brought 
so  near  death  and  escape  scathless.  Well  might  W.  Clowes  prefix  to  his  account  of 
their  common  deliverance  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge 
over  thee ;"  for  death  brushed  them  with  his  wings  as  he  passed,  and  yet  no  harm 
befell  them.  It  was  the  early  morning  of  Monday,  March  3rd,  1823.  "W.  Clowes 
U;H  roused  from  sleep  by  the  noise  of  the  wind,  which  had  risen  to  a  perfect  hurricane. 
Scarcely  had  he  dressed  when  a  stack  of  chimneys  crashed  through  the  roof  and  broke 
in  the  floors.  When  he  and  his  alarmed  companions  made  for  the  stairs  they  found 
them  blocked  by  the  fallen  roof.  How  under  these  circumstances  they  contrived  to 
escape  is  not  very  clear ;  but  escape  they  did.  The  local  chronicler  notes  the  preservation 
of  Dr.  Oxley  and  his  family,  but  he  does  not  know — as  how  should  he  1 — what  the 
preservation  of  Dr.  Oxley's  guests  meant  for  Primitive  Methodism.  The  loss  of 
Messrs.  Branfoot  and  Hewson  by  misadventure  on  the  Hetton  waggon- way  on 
February  26th,  1831,  was  a  heavy  blow;  the  loss  of  W.  Clowes  and  the  Nelson 
brothers  in  the  great  storm  of  1823  would  have  been  a  disaster.* 

The  preparatory  Quarterly  Meeting  held,  as  we  have  said,  on  the  day  of  this  hair- 
breadth escape,  proposed  that  North  Shields  should  be  made  a  circuit.  Considerable 
progress  must  have  been  made  during  the  year  to  warrant  the  taking  of  such  a  step. 
So  late  as  June,  1822,  the  membership  of  the  Northern  Mission  was  but  seventy. 
Since  then  the  Mission  had  been  divided  into  the  North  and  South  Shields  branches, 
with  an  aggregate  membership  of  681,  almost  equally  divided  between  the  two  branches. 
In  addition  to  these,  Stockton  Mission,  which  since  June  had  increased  its  membership 
from  79  to  114,  was  soon  to  be  incorporated.  What  was  more,  a  footing  had  been 
gained  in  the  important  towns  of  Sunderland  and  Newcastle,  under  circumstances 
shortly  to  be  narrated.  The  outlook  had  appeared  so  promising  that  the  Hull  December 
Quarterly  Meeting  determined  to  send  reinforcements,  and  eight  missionaries  were  now 
at  work — three  North  of  the  Tyne,  three  at  South  Shields,  and  two  on  the  Stockton 
Mission,  of  whom  N.  West  was  one.  The  Journals  of  the  missionaries  show  that 
these  results  had  not  been  accomplished  without  hard  work,  often  performed  under 
trying  conditions.  A  six  weeks'  storm  in  the  first  two  months  of  1823  had  blocked 
the  roads  with  snow-drifts,  so  as  to  make  travelling  hard  and  risky.  For  a  whole 
week  no  Western  or  Northern  mails  had  entered  Newcastle,  and  the  inhabitants  saw 
with  astonishment  the  South  mails  carried  on  the  backs  of  thirteen  saddle-horses. 
Travellers  found  themselves  storm-bound  in  country  inns  and  running  short  of  pro- 
visions, as  though  they  were  in  a  beleaguered  fortress.  Clowes  speaks  of  having 
witnessed  distressing  shipwrecks  on  South  Shields  sands,  and  having,  at  Sunderland, 

*  Sykes'  "  Local  Records  "  refers  to  this  incident  of  the  great  storm.  Clowes'  words  are :  "  We 
therefore  contrived  to  escape  by  the  top  of  the  roof,  which  lay  then  on  the  stair-case,  holding  ourselves 
by  the  wall."  Some  years  later  than  this  a  Dr.  Oxley  befriended  our  cause  in  London.  Whether 
we  have  here  a  mere  coincidence  of  name  we  are  unable  to  determine.  The  good  doctor  might 
have  removed  in  the  interim. 


172 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


offered  public  thanksgiving  on  behalf  of  several  sailors  who  had  escaped  with  their 
lives.  And  yet,  "  fair  or  foul,  snow  or  shine,"  the  missionaries  went  on  with  their 
work.  We  get  glimpses  of  Clowes  preaching  at  North  Shields,  in  New  Milburn  Place 
and  on  the  New  Quay.  We  see  him,  in  conjunction  with  John  Nelson,  visiting 
Newbiggen  and  Morpeth.  Newbiggen  was  so  little  accustomed  to  the  Gospel  that  it 
hardly  knew  what  to  make  of  the  evangelists :  "  Some  few  gathered  round,  but  others 
stood  at  a  distance  as  if  frightened."  At  Morpeth  they  sent  the  town-crier  round,  and 
then  preached  at  the  Town  Cross.  "  Several  did  not  behave  well ; "  one  man  in 
particular  raised  a  clamour,  and,  from  his  movements,  seemed  to  be  intending  an 
onset  on  the  preacher,  but  Clowes  "  endeavoured  to  fix  him  with  his  eye,  and  waited 
upon  God."  Already  we  see  there  were  good  societies  at  Percy  Main  and  Benton 

Square.  Still,  the  great  ingathering  was 
yet  to  come.  Clowes  and  John  Nelson 
both  moved  off  after  the  Conference  of 
1823,  and  Jeremiah  Gilbert,  of  prison 
fame,  was  for  two  years  the  leading 
missionary  of  North  Shields  Circuit. 
He  speaks  of  "our  noble  chapel,"  in 
which  he  began  his  ministrations. 
Union  Street  Chapel  was  centrally 
situated  and  well  attended,  but  an  ad- 
jective more  appropriate  than  "noble" 
might  have  been  found  to  hit  off  its 
appearance  and  character.  In  the  end 
it  came  to  be  a  burden  and  an  embar- 
rassment. So  much  was  this  the  case 
that,  when  Mary  Porteus  was  stationed 
to  the  circuit  in  1836,  leave  was  ob- 
tained for  her  "  to  take  an  extensive 
tour  to  collect  funds  through  Yorkshire, 
Lincolnshire,  and  elsewhere  where  Provi- 
dence might  direct."  Union  Street  was 
happily  superseded  by  Saville  Street 
Chapel,  opened  March,  1861,  when  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Smith  was  superintendent. 
Shortly  after  J.  Gilbert's  arrival — July  20th,  1823 — a  notable  circuit  camp  meeting 
was  held  on  Scaffold  Hill,  at  which  more  than  twenty  persons  were  converted.* 
Thomas  Nelson  and  George  Wallace  were  two  of  the  six  travelling  preachers  who  took 
part.  Wallace  was  a  native  of  the  district,  who  ran  his  short  course  from  July,  1823, 
to  March,  1824,  and  probably  died  a  martyr  to  excessive  toil.  Only  a  month  before 
his  death  he  walked  from  Wingate  to  Kirkwhelpington,  a  distance  of  seventeen  miles, 
in  snow  and  rain,  and  preached  at  night.  "  It  put  me  forcibly  in  mind,"  says  he, 


SAVILLE   STREET   CHURCH,    NORTH    SHIELDS. 


*  The  "  Extracts  from  the  Journals  of  Jeremiah  Gilbert "  was  printed  in  1824,  at  North  Shields, 
by  J.  K.  Pollock,  Camden  Street. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  173 

"  of  some  of  the  first  Methodist  preachers  and  the  missionaries.  There  were  great 
mountains,  and  crags,  and  burns  to  go  over,  which  sometimes  nearly  exhausted  my 
strength."  When,  in  December,  1823,  Newcastle  became  an  independent  circuit  and 
Morpeth  a  branch  of'North  Shields,  there  were  seven  preachers  on  the  ground  instead 
of  three,  and  near  800  members  where,  in  March,  there  had  been  335.  The  anthracite 
had  fairly  caught  fire.  From  this  time  Newcastle  and  North  Shields  went  each  its 
own  way,  and  the  missionary  efforts  of  the  parent  circuit  had  necessarily  to  be  confined 
to  the  north — to  the  country  lying  between  the  Blyth  and  the  Tweed.  In  this  part 
of  Northumberland  the  Connexion  has  now  six  stations,  all  of  which  can  trace  their 
descent  from  North  Shields  Circuit,  viz.,  Seaton  Delaval,  Blyth,  Ashington,  Amble, 
North  Sunderland,  Lowick,  and  Berwick.  Had  success  been  at  all  proportionate  to- 
the  amount  of  toil  expended,  Morpeth  and  Alnwick  would  have  been  found  in  this 
list;  for  both  were  early  branches  of  North  Shields,  though  they  never  grew  to  be 
circuits,  and  after  a  time  ceased  to  be  even  branches.  Morpeth  has  had  a  chequered 
history.  Beginning  as  a  branch  of  North  Shields,  it  was  afterwards  served  by  Hexham. 
In  1836,  with  its  twenty  members,  it  reverted  to  North  Shields.  Much  later  it  was 
remissioned  by  Blyth,  and  is  now  included  in  Ashington,  one  of  the  new  progressive 
circuits  that  owe  their  rise  to  the  sinking  of  collieries  further  north.  As  for  Alnwick, 
the  capital  of  the  county,  we  have  nothing  to  show  for  some  years  of  labour.  We  may 
visit  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  famous  castle,  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
baronial  structures  in  all  England ;  but  we  shall  look  in  vain  for  a  Primitive  Methodist 
chapel  or  preaching-room.  And  yet,  W.  Lister,  Mary  Porteus,  and  other  missionaries 
lived  here  in  the  'Twenties  and  'Thirties,  and  made  Alnwick  the  centre  of  earnest 
evangelistic  efforts. 

Mr.  Lister  was  on  the  Alnwick  branch  from  January  to  April,  1829,  and  again  for 
two  months  in  1830.  We  give  an  item  from  his  Journal,  which  shows  that  the  future 
President  and  Book  Steward  could  cheerfully  endure  privations : — 

"  During  the  months  of  July  and  August  (1830),  I  missioned  about  a  dozen 
of  the  villages.  I  often  had  long  journeys,  much  hard  fare,  made  my  breakfast 
and  dinner  at  times  by  the  side  of  a  spring  of  water,  with  a  pennyworth  of  bread 
bought  at  some  village  shop.  Yet  these  were  trifles  to  what  my  Master  'had 
to  go  through  in  preaching  among  the  villages.  The  prosperity  of  the  work 
sweetened  all." 

The  same  Journal  speaks  of  a  crowded  Missionary  Meeting  held  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  Alnwick,  at  which  Brothers  Herod,  Clough,  W.  Garner,  J.  Parrott,  and  W.  Lister 
were  the  speakers.  "Next  day"  (March  2nd,  1830),  says  Mr.  Lister,  "I  walked,  in 
company  with  the  other  four  brethren,  twenty-five  miles  to  Bedlington,  where  we  held 
a  Missionary  Meeting.  Next  day  walked  home  [to  North  Shields]  twelve  miles."* 

Still  the  efforts  put  forth  on  the  somewhat  niggard  soil  in  and  around  Alnwick  were 
not  altogether  in  vain,  as  the  biographies  and  journals  of  some  of  the  workers  show. 
If  the  societies  were  numerically  feeble,  and  mostly  made  up  of  the  poor  of  this  world, 
there  were  amongst  them  some  men  and  women  of  high  principle  who  did  no  discredit 

*  MS.  Journals  of  the  Rev.  W.  Lister. 


174 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


to  the  Connexion.  Such,  assuredly,  was  the  aged  woman,  a  member  of  the  Alnwick 
society,  who,  too  poor  to  pay  her  weekly  class-pence,  still  recognised  her  Christian 
obligations  and,  in  the  spirit  of  Northumbrian  independence,  explained  to  the  minister 
who  led  the  class,  "  I clean  the  chapel  for  my  privileges" 

The  most  notable  achievement  of  North  Shields  Circuit  in  the  early  days,  was 
undoubtedly,  next  after  the  planting  of  our  Church  in  Newcastle,  the  missioning  of 
Berwick-on-Tweed.  The  first  on  the  ground  was  William  Clough.  He  began  his 
mission  on  January  4th,  1829,  by  preaching  on  Wallace  Green,  and  also  in  a  large 
room  he  had  taken  on  rent.  During  the  three  months  he  spent  on  the  mission, 
Mr.  Clough  established  preaching-stations  on  both  sides  of  the  border,  instituted 
a  Sunday  afternoon  service  at  the  Town  Hall  steps,  preached  to  the  prisoners  in  the 
jail,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Berwick  society.  Mr.  Lister,  who  followed  him. 
is  rightly  regarded  as  having  been  the  maker  of  Berwick  Circuit.  He  it  was  who, 


Old  Bridge,  Berwick-on-Tweed 


OLD  BRIDGE,    BERWICK-ON-TWEED. 

building  along  the  lines  already  laid  down,  prepared  the  mission  for  circuit  independence, 
which  was  granted  in  1831.  Himself  a  fruit  of  the  Northern  Mission  and  called  into 
the  ministry  by  North  Shields,  his  home-circuit  (1827),  Mr.  Lister  seems  to  have 
understood  the  Northumbrian  and  Scottish  type  of  character,  with  which,  indeed,  his 
own  had  many  points  of  affinity.  This  sympathetic  insight  of  one  who  was  in  the 
full  vigour  of  early  manhood  and  prodigal  of  his  strength,  made  his  double  term  of 
service  in  Berwick,  and  his  year  in  Edinburgh  (then  a  branch  of  Berwick),  remarkably 
successful.  During  his  first  term  of  fifteen  months  in  Berwick,  he  preached  every 
Sunday  afternoon,  from  April  to  September,  at  the  Town  Hall  steps,  often  to  as  many 
as  two  thousand  people.  Places  as  far  distant  as  Kelso,  in  Scotland,  were  visited, 
rooms  hired,  and  services,  held,  with  the  view,  if  possible,  of  establishing  new  causes. 
A  friendly  arrangement  was  entered  into  by  which  Wooler  and  two  other  societies 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    A.ND    ENTERPRISE.  175 

were  taken  over  from  the  Bible  Christians.*  A  chapel  capable  of  holding  six  hundred 
people,  also  a  schoolroom  and  a  manse  were  built  (February,  1830) ;  and,  although  the 
debt  left  on  the  property  afterwards  proved  burdensome,  the  acquisition  of  these 
buildings  so  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  mission,  was  something  of  a  feat.  Converts 
were  made  like  W.  Fulton  and  Adam  Dodds,  both  of  whom 
afterwards  spent  two  terms  of  ministerial  service  in  Berwick, 
to  the  great  advantage  of  the  circuit.  -Another  convert  was 
Dr.  W.  Landells,  the  once  well-known  minister  of  Eegent's  Park 
Chapel,  who  for  some  time  was  a  local  preacher  in  the  Berwick 
Circuit.  In  1833,  Mr.  Lister  began  his  second  term  of  three 
years  in  the  circuit  under  disheartening  conditions.  The  interests 
of  the  station  had  recently  suffered  from  ministerial  bickerings, 
of  which  the  public  were  but  too  fully  aware.  The  circuit 
had  gone  backward  instead  of  forward.  Retrogression  was  writ 
large  on  its  poor  manuscript  plan  showing  only  six  places.  The  one 

WILLIAM    FULTON. 

chapel  of  the  circuit  was  in  difficulties,  the  mortgagee  threatening 

to  foreclose.  But  the  new  preacher  was  known,  and  received  a  cordial  welcome  that 
was  of  good  omen.  The  same  methods  which  had  proved  so  successful  four  years  before 
were  again  adopted,  with  the  result  that  a  new  era  of  progress  set  in.  Eyemouth,  which 
had  been  missioned  in  1830  and  afterwards  abandoned,  now  asked  for  the  resumption 
of  services,  and  in  October,  1835,  a  new  chapel  was  opened  for  its  twenty  members. 
In  June,  1834,  Edinburgh  Mission  was  transferred  to  Glasgow,  and  at  the  following 
Quarter  Day  Alnwick  branch  was  re-attached  to  North  Shields.  When  Mr.  Lister 
was  leaving  Berwick  in  1836,  he  could  write:  "Through  the  blessing  of  heaven,  we 
leave  120  more  members  than  we  found,  one  new  chapel,  nineteen  places  missioned, 
Berwick  chapel  relieved  of  its  financial  difficulties,  and  all  old  circuit  outstanding 
bills  paid  off." 

There  are  one  or  two  peculiarities  connected  with  the  planting  and  subsequent 
history  of  our  Church  in  north-east  Northumberland  that  may  briefly  be  pointed  out. 
One  thing  we  cannot  find — persecution.  More  than  this  :  in  no  other  part  of  England 
did  our  missionaries  receive  such  civil  treatment  from  all  classes,  and  in  none  were 
they  taken  more  seriously  and  listened  to  more  attentively.  There  were  many  places  in 
England  where  the  missionary  no  sooner  began  his  service  than  the  bells  were  set  a-ringing 
to  drown  his  voice ;  there  were  still  more  places  where  the  bells  were  rung  only  at  the 
prescribed  times — missionary  or  no  missionary ;  but,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  Berwick 
was  the  only  place  where  the  bells  were  stopped  ringing,  even  at  the  authorised  times, 
so  that  the  open-air  service  might  not  be  interrupted.  Like  the  Beroeans  of  old,  the 
people  of  Berwick  were  "ready  to  listen,  willing  to  inquire."  Probably  the  attitude 
of  the  people  to  our  early  missionaries  may  be  explained  by  the  extent  to  which  the 
seriousness  and  thoughtfulness  native  to  the  Northumbrian  character,  have,  through 
the  long-prevalent  influence  of  Presbyterianism,  taken  the  bent  towards  a  non-priestly 
religion — a  religion  which  regards  the  Bible  and  pulpit  with  instinctive  reverence. 

*  It  was  a  pious  female  named  Mary  Ann  Weary,  from  Cornwall,  who  was  the  founder  of  these 
societies.  She  alleged  the  mission  was  begun  in  obedience  to  a  divine  impression. 


176  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHUKCH. 

Certainly  here,  if  anywhere,  the  preacher  starts  with  the  great  initial  advantage  that 
there  is  a  recognised  presumption  in  his  favour,  and  it  will  be  his  own  fault  if  he  fails 
to  justify  that  presumption,  and  does  not  succeed  in  turning  the  sentiment  of  deference 
into  a  reasonable  and  well-grounded  respect. 

Hut  our  history  shows  that  Presbyterianism  can  take  as  well  as  give,  and  that  she 
has  enjoyed  a  large  reversionary  interest  in  the  evangelistic  movements  our  Church  has 
carried  on  in  her  midst.  From  the  beginning,  Berwick  Circuit  has  given  many  to 
other  communities.  Every  revival — and  there  have  been  many  of  them — has  enriched 
the  Churches.  Such  was  notably  the  case  after  the  Eyemouth  revival  of  1859,  in 
which  the  Rev.  J.  Snaith  took  a  leading  part  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry.  No 
doubt  the  loss  was  greater  in  the  early  days,  when  chapels  were  few  and  accommodation 
scant;  but  some  fruit  was  lost  even  after  store-rooms  were  provided.  Of  course 
statistics  are  not  available.  If  they  were,  we  venture  to  say  the  disclosure  would 
be  startling  as  to  the  number  of  members  and  officials  of  other  Churches  who  received 
their  definite  call  to  the  Christian  life  through  the  agency  of  Primitive  Methodism. 
The  late  Rev.  W.  Fulton,  writing  in  1868,  says:  "There  are  no  Churches  in  Berwick, 
the  Romanists  excepted,  which  have  not  benefited  by  our  ministry."  What  W.  Clowes 
said  in  1820  applies  with  special  force  to  Berwick:  "It  is  true  we  have  received 
assistance  from  our  friends  by  a  few  class  leaders,  local  preachers,  and  others  coming 
to  us  ...  but  for  every  old  sheep  received,  we  have  given  in  lieu  at  least  two 
fat  lambs." 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  many  ministerial  probationers  have  travelled 
the  Berwick  Circuit  and  its  offshoots,  and  how  many  ministers  Berwick  has  pledged 
during  the  course  of  its  history.  In  the  eighteen  years,  from  1855  to  1873,  the  pledges 
of  no  less  than  ten  ministers  were  accepted,  amongst  them  those  of  John  Waite, 
John  Gill,  Hugh  Gilmore,  and  R.  G.  Graham.  A  large  proportion  of  the  ministers 
of  the  old  Sunderland  District  had  their  turn  of  service  in  this  border  region  soon 
after  they  had  put  on  the  harness,  so  that  Berwick  has  been  a  veritable  training-ground 
for  the  ministry.  At  first  sight  there  would  seem  to  be  little  connection  between  these 
facts  and  the  situation  and  physical  characteristics  of  the  district  these  young  men 
helped  to  evangelise.  But  the  connection  is  not  difficult  to  trace ;  they  are  the  first 
and  last  links  in  a  chain  of  causation.  It  is  the  country,  such  as  we  find  it,  that  has 
limited  the  expansion  of  industrialism  and  checked  the  natural  growth  of  population. 
The  intermediate  links  of  the  chain  are  obvious  enough.  Even  churches  cannot  escape 
the  working  of  the  laws  of  political  economy.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  recognise 
their  working  and  to  seek  to  minimise  their  disadvantages;  and  this  has  been  the 
course  pursued  in  relation  to  Berwick.  The  industrial  revolution  which,  in  other  parts 
of  the  country,  has  multiplied  mines  and  manufactories,  and  doubled  or  trebled  the 
population,  has  done  little  for  Berwick  except  to  draw  off  and  provide  work  and  food 
for  its  surplus  hands  and  mouths.  When  we  find  that  Berwick,  the  chief  town  of  this 
district,  had  but  679  more  inhabitants  in  1891  than  it  had  fifty  years  before,'  and  that 
in  1891  the  population  was  actually  less  by  617  than  it  was  in  1881,  we  can  see  what 
must  have  been  going  on  all  through  these  years,  and  form  some  idea  of  the  difficulties 
the  Churches  have  had  to  contend  with.  We  see  the  youth  at  the  close  of  his 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  177 

apprenticeship  moving  off  to  the  busy  towns  on  the  Tyne  or  Wear.  We  see  parents, 
anxious  to  put  the  means  of  an  assured  livelihood  within  the  reach  of  their  rising 
family,  migrating  to  the  centres  of  trade  and  commerce.  It  is  disheartening  to  those 
striving  to  build  up  strong  societies,  to  find  themselves  thus  seemingly  thwarted  by 
the  laws  which  control  the  labour-market.  Still  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  in  this 
border  district  the  Connexion  has  held  its  ground— and  something  more.  In  1842 
Berwick  had  three  ministers  and  274  members ;  now  Berwick,  and  its  offshoots,  Lowick 
and  Xorth  Sunderland,  together  have  six  ministers  and  771  members. 

Besides  William  Fulton  and  Adam  Dodds,  the  Berwick  Circuit  has  sent  out  into  the 
ministry  others  who  have  long  and  ably  served  the  Connexion.  Among  these  may  be 
named  Michael  Clarke,  and  George  Lewins  who,  after  forty-one  years  of  labour  in 
various  parts,  still  holds  his  place  in  the  ranks.  Michael  Clarke  was  born  at  Ford  Moss, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  John  Clarke,  one  of  the  Baptist  missionaries  banished 
from  Fernando  Po  in  1858,  was  his  uncle.  Mr.  Clarke  was  called  out  by  the  Berwick 
Circuit,  and  in  1853  went  out  to  Melbourne  to  take  the  place  of  John  Ride.  After 
an  absence  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  revisited  England,  and  the 


MICHAEL    CLARKE.  MR.    JOHN   BROWN.  MR.    GEO.    JOBSON. 


Conference  of  1879,  recognising  the  distinguished  service  he  had  rendered  Australian 
Primitive  Methodism,  elected  him  as  its  Vice-President.  He  was  superannuated  in 
1885  and  died  1892. 

Of  the  Berwick  laymen  who  have  "  obtained  a  good  report,"  we  can  but  refer  to 
one  or  two.  James  Young  with  a  considerable  dash  of  eccentricity,  and  Michael  Clarke 
of  Belfort,  were  both  notable  men.  John  Brown  of  Ancroft  was  a  fine  specimen  of 
a  border  tenant-farmer — broad-shouldered  and  broad-minded,  to  whom  the  eyes  of  men 
turned  as  one  in  every  way  fitted  to  represent  the  people  at  Westminster,  though 
Sir  Edward  Grey  eventually  became  the  accepted  candidate.  Mr.  Brown  was,  for 
many  years,  a  conspicuous  and  devoted  worker  for  our  cause.  The  Allerdean  church 
stands  as  his  memorial.  Of  Mr.  George  Jobson,  who  for  forty  years  was  a  local 
preacher  and  leading  official  of  the  Berwick  Circuit,  the  Rev.  H.  Yooll  (2)  (who  knew 
him  well)  says :  "He  was  one  of  the  best  fruits  of  our  work  in  Berwick  at  a  com- 
paratively early  day,  when  loyalty  to  the  cause  was  often  tested  severely.  His 
outstanding  characteristics  were  zeal  and  generosity.  The  Berwick  Circuit  covered 
then  what  is  now  the  area  of  three  circuits,  and  Mr.  Jobson  was  one  of  its  tireless 


178 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUKCH. 


JAMES   HALL. 


workers.      In  its  somewhat  varying  fortunes  he  was  ever  the  same  devoted  son  and 
servant  of  our  Church.     His  two  sons  are  local  preachers  with  us." 

We  return  to  the  "  old  North  Shields  Circuit "  as,  in  order  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  truncated  circuit  of  to-day,  it  is  often  familiarly  called.     The  constituent  societies 
of  the  old  circuit  were  diversified  in  character.     They  were  not  all  of  the  same  cast 
or  complexion.     The  circuit-town — a  considerable  seaport — and 
the  river-side  societies  had  their  distinctive  features.     Cullercoats, 
two  miles  away,  was  a  typical  fishing  village ;  while  an  ever- 
enlarging  proportion  of    the  societies   was  found  in  the  mining 
villages  to  the  north  of  the  Tyne. 

Amongst  the  officials  of  an  early  date  resident  in  North  Shields 
were  Messrs.  Stephen  Knott,  John  Foster,  and  James  Hall.  Two 
men  who  at  a  later  time  came  to  the  front  and  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  management  of  affairs,  were  Messrs.  John  Spence  and 
Thomas  Smith.  Mr.  Spence  began  life  as  a  working  miner  at 
Percy  Main,  but  set  up  in  business  for  himself  and,  by  dint  of 
push  and  ability,  raised  himself  to  a  good  social  position ;  in 
the  end  becoming  an  alderman  and  chief  magistrate  of  the  borough.  Mr.  Spence 
was  full  of  vitality ;  without  being  intellectual  or  making  any  pretensions  to  culture, 
he  had  an  alert  intelligence.  He  was  genial,  jocose,  ready  to  show  hospitality,  and 
both  had  it  in  his  power  and  inclination  to  be  helpful  to  the  society  and  circuit. 
As  circuit  steward  and  chapel  treasurer  his  capabilities  for  business  found  full 
scope,  while  he  also  filled  the  offices  of  leader  and  Sunday  School  superintendent. 
Mr.  Thomas  Smith  was  a  man  of  a  very  different  type,  both  in  appearance  and 
still  more  in  mental  constitution  and  temperament.  With  no  imagination  to  speak 
of,  he  had  an  original  and  vigorous  mind  that  in  its  workings  occasionally  threw 
off  sparks  of  grim  humour.  Had  he  but  had  the  advantage  of  thorough  mental 
discipline  in  his  youth,  there  is  no  telling  what  he  might  have  become  or  achieved. 
Even  as  it  was  he  could  not  help  being  a  philosopher  in  his  way, 
a  solid  preacher,  and  a  man  of  weight  in  the  counsels  of  the 
Church.  Moreover,  he  and  his  excellent  wife  having  leisure 
at  command,  were  indefatigable  in  the  more  private  walks  of 
usefulness.  Unfortunately,  Mr.  Smith  had  an  unyielding  and 
somewhat  passional  nature.  As  a  retired  blacksmith,  he  might 
not  unfittingly  have  adopted  as  his  own  the  family  motto:  "You 
may  break  but  cannot  bend  me."  As  Mr.  Spence,  too,  had  also 
the  defect  of  his  qualities,  in  a  certain  over-sensitiveness,  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  these  two  estimable  men  were  sometimes 
in  opposition  and  that  the  result  was  friction,  from  which,  now  and 
again  during  the  years,  North  Shields  has  unhappily  suffered. 

The  loss  of  Thomas  Nightingale  is  too  recent,  and  the  man  himself  too  widely 
known,  to  require  much  to  be  said  of  him  here.  As  one  who  was  frequently  elected 
to  attend  the  Conference  assemblies,  and  who  invariably  drew  large  audiences  on 
the  Conference  Camp-ground ;  as  one  too,  who  ran  for  the  Vice-presidency  of  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


179 


Conference,  and  was  selected  as  a  morning  speaker  at  the  Metropolitan  Missionary 
meeting,  he  had  deservedly  achieved  a  considerable  Connexional  reputation.  In  the 
years  to  come  he  will  be  ranked  with  the  original  and  popular  preachers  of  his  day, 
and  his  sayings  and  doings  will  enrich  the  traditions  of  our  Northern  churches. 

Another  valuable  official  was  Mr.  Joseph  Salkeld,  a  Cumbrian  by  birth,  who,  after 
some  years'  residence  in  Newcastle,  settled  at  Howden-on-Tyne,  where  he  and  his 
worthy  wife — strict  though  kind — dispensed  hospitality,  and  were  a  stay  and  help  to 
the  church.  Mr.  Salkeld  was  a  healthy-minded,  sunshiny  Christian,  the  influence 
of  whose  life  "did  good  like  a  medicine,"  purging  the  mind  of  blacjc  vapours,  and 
causing  others  to  look  out  on  life  as  smilingly  as  he  looked  on  it  himself.  He  was 
a  frequent  platform  speaker  as  well  as  preacher  and,  being  full  of  humour  and  having 
a  rich  repertory  of  anecdotes,  his  speeches  were  lively  and  entertaining.  How  often 
his,  "This  reminds  me  of  an  anecdote,"  was  the  introduction  to  some  reminiscence 
of  the  past  that  had  its  lesson,  though  no  disparagement,  for  the  present. 

Many  years  ago,  John  Barnard  and  J.  H.  Jopling  as  youths  bowed  at  the  penitent- 
form  at  Percy  Main,  along  with  some  ten  others.  The  former  was  called  into  the 


THOS.    NIGHTINGALE. 


MR.    J.    SALKELD. 


MRS.    E.    SALKELD. 


RICHARD   RAINE. 


ministry  (1857)  by  Berwick  Circuit.  After  travelling  a  few  years  he  settled  down  in 
his  native  circuit,  and  as  a  local  preacher  rendered  extensive  and  valuable  service*  for 
a  long  series  of  years.  Benjamin  Hall,  his  early  guide  and  mentor,  still  survives  as 
the  doyen  of  the  North  Shields  Circuit  local  preachers.  So,  happily,  does  J.  H.  Jopling 
who,  full  of  good  works,  holds  a  secure  and  lasting  place  in  the  affections  of  preachers 
and  people.  There  are  many  others  who  in  the  quieter  walks  of  usefulness  have 
served  the  interests  of  these  river-side  churches — families  like  the  Dodds,  the  Jewels, 
the  Grants,  the  Nicholsons,  the  Rutherfords ;  and  men  like  J.  Spoor,  H.  B.  Thompson, 
E,.  Holden,  and  Richard  Raine.  Of  the  last-named  two,  a  further  word  must  be 
written.  Mr.  R.  Holden  decided  for  Christ  at  a  famous  camp-meeting  at  Dye  House, 
in  the  Hexham  Circuit.  In  early  life  he  was  associated  in  his  employment  with 
Dr.  Joseph  Parker.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Chirton,  and  then  to  North  Shields, 
where,  for  thirty  years,  he  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  filling  at  one  time  or 
another  important  Church  and  civic  offices,  and  living  a  blameless  and  most  useful 
life.  Richard  Raine — "the  famous  Primitive  singer  and  beau  ideal  choir-master" — 
spent  the  declining  years  of  his  life  in  North  Shields.  When  in  the  hey-day  of  his 

M  2 


180 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


powers,  he  was  known  far  and  wide  as  the  man  to  head  the  van  of  a  procession,  and 
he  had  led  the  singing  at  many  a  historic  camp-meeting.  To  the  end,  although  "  the 
daughters  of  music  were  brought"  somewhat  "low,"  he  retained  his  enthusiasm  for 
sacred  song.  Assuredly,  with  a  soul  so  full  of  music,  he  is  now  right  amongst  the 
"harpers  harping  with  their  harps." 

The  society  at  Cullercoats  offered  a  pleasing  variety  to  the  church-life  of  the  circuit. 
When  first  missioned,  and  for  some  years  after,  Cullercoats  was,  as  we  have  said 
a  typical  fishing-village.  Its  fishermen  were  hardy,  adventurous,  and  industrious ;  and 
their  women-folk,  clad  in  the  characteristic  garb  of  their  class,  were  as  picturesque  figures 
as  the  Scots'  fishwives,  whom  in  many  respects  they  resembled.  Like  their  norther 


CULLERCOATS  BAY.     (Present  Day. 


sisters,  they  toiled  hard,  taking  quite  their  full  share  of  work  as  bread-winners  for  the 
family.  Not  only  did  they  look  after  their  households,  but  they  mended  the  nets, 
gathered  bait,  and,  above  all,  they  vended  the  fish.  Often  might  they  be  seen  in 
North  Shields,  and  even  in  Newcastle,  bending  under  the  weight  of  three  or  four 
stones  of  fish,  carried  on  their  backs  in  wicker-baskets  or  "  creels,"  and  their  cry  of 
"  caller  herring  "  was  as  striking  as  their  appearance.  The  fishing-people  of  Cullercoats 
were  clannish,  and  intermarried  so  closely  that  the  surnames  were  few  and,  for  the 
purpose  of  identification,  nicknames  had  to  be  used.  In  the  early  'Sixties,  it  was 
said  there  were  six  John  Taylors  in  the  village,  who  had  severally  to  be  distinguished 
by  a  sobriquet.  Some  of  the  primitive  simplicity  and  old-world  customs  which  once 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


181 


prevailed  may  have  vanished  before  the  sure  oncoming  of  modern  fashions.  Cullercoats 
itself  has  undergone  great  changes  so  as  scarcely  to  know  itself.  Railway  facilities 
and  its  nearness  to  Newcastle  have  transformed  it  into  a  residential  neighbourhood, 
and  into  a  popular  sea-side  resort.  The  extent  of  the  change  effected  may  be  partly 
measured  by  the  material  advance  our  Church  has  made  in  the  village ;  for  Primitive 
Methodism  has  done  much  for  the  fishermen.  From  the  beginning — probably  in  the 
early  'Forties — it  got  a  good  hold  of  them.  Its  ministrations  suited  them  and  helped 
them,  and  the  experience  of  Filey  was  repeated  in  the  moral  transformation  of  the 
fishermen  and  their  families.  At  first,  services  were  held  in  a  chapel,  jointly  used — 
strange  to  say — by  the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists — each  of  the  three 


CULLEKCOATS   NEW   CHAPEL. 


denominations  conducting  one  Sunday  service  therein.  In  the  end,  the  Primitives 
were  left  sole  occupants  of  the  chapel.  The  cause  prospered.  Visitors  were  attracted 
to  "the  Fishermen's  Chapel,"  so  much  so  that  the  chapel  became  quite  an  institution 
in  the  village,  and  it  got  to  be  considered  quite  the  correct  thing  to  join  in  its  worship. 
Visitors  admired  the  heartiness  of  the  services;  they  liked  the  look  of  the  fisher- 
people,  who  came  in  numbers,  all  clad  in  their  Sunday  best,  and  they  liked  the  way 
in  which  they  threw  themselves  into  the  service.  It  was  a  new  and  piquant  experience 
to  listen  to  such  preachers  as  Thomas  Wandless  and  Thomas  ^Nightingale ;  so  that 
when  the  visitors  went  back  to  the  big  town,  the  word  was  passed  round :  "  When 
you  go  to  Cullercoats,  you  must  be  sure  to  attend  'the  Fishermen's  Chapel.'"  This  is 


182  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

no  fancy-sketch,  for  we  write  from  a  four  years'  experience — 1867-71.  It  was  decided 
the  time  had  come  for  enlargement;  whereupon,  ladies  of  various  denominations 
co-operated  with  the  society  in  raising  £400  by  a  bazaar,  and  in  1868  the  chapel  was 
rebuilt.  That  chapel,  which  may  be  seen  in  our  picture,  is  still  used  as  a  school  and 
lecture-hall;  and,  hard  by.it,  there  stands  a  new  chapel  capable  of  accommodating 
five  hundred  people,  which  was  opened  in  1899. 

In  the  march  of  improvement  quite  a  new  village  or  town  has  sprung  up  at  the 
adjoining  Whitley  Bay,  with  scarcely  any  religious  provision  for  the  residents.  Here, 
under  the  superintendency  of  Rev.  G.  F.  Johnson,  a  handsome  and  commodious  church 
was  erected  in  1904,  at  a  total  cost,  including  laud,  of  £3,200.  We  leave  Cullercoats 
and  its  record  of  progress,  just  noting  the  fact  that  George  Dodds,  of  Newcastle — the 
trusty  comrade  of  George  Charlton  in  the  temperance  crusade — in  the  evening  of  his 
life,  came  to  reside  amongst  the  Cullercoats  fishermen,  and  worked  for  and  with  them ; 
and  here,  too,  Rev.  James  Young  has  chosen  to  locate,  after  forty-four  years'  faithful 
and  fruitful  ministerial  service ;  here,  too,  Alexander  Petticrow,  who  has  been  called 
the  "Billy  Bray  of  Cullercoats,"  ended  his  days.  In  a  recess  of 
these  sea-cliffs  he  found  sanctification,  and  in  these  streets  he 
witnessed  for  God.* 

Turning  now  to  the  colliery  societies  of  the  old  North  Shields 
Circuit,  we  find  they  have  all  along  been  a  growingly  important 
factor  in  its  life ;  so  much  so,  that  the  administrative  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  circuit — its  divisions  and  sub- 
divisions— have  been  largely  the  result  of  the  working  of  this 
factor.  This  is  seen  in  the  next  important  organic  change  which 
took  place  in  the  circuit  after  Berwick  was  parted  with.  This 
was  the  formation  of  Blyth,  first  into  a  branch,  and  afterwards, 

REV.    J.    YOUNG. 

under  the  guidance  of  Rev.  James  Jackson — "  an  able  administrator 
and  an  excellent  preacher"  t — into  an  independent  station.  Blyth  had  beenremissioned 
early  in  the  'Thirties,  but  had  encountered  reverses  largely  due,  we  are  told,  to  Church 
dissensions ;  the  chapel  became  involved,  and  was  ultimately  lost  to  the  Connexion. 
But  Blyth  was  destined  to  become  the  head  of  a  vigorous  circuit,  and,  what  is  more, 
to  become  the  parent  of  circuits.  The  opening  of  new  collieries  greatly  increased  the 
population  of  the  neighbourhood.  Blyth  became  the  centre  of  a  new  colliery  district,  and, 
more  and  more,  a  port  of  shipment  for  coals.  It  is  significant  that  the  year  when  Blyth 
was  made  into  a  station  was  also  the  year  when  Thomas  Burt,  then  a  working  miner  at 
Choppington,  was  appointed  the  Secretary  of  the  Northumberland  Miners'  Union ;  nor 
less  significant  is  it  that,  largely  by  the  votes  of  the  miners,  he  was,  in  1874,  returned 
to  Parliament  for  the  Morpeth  Division.  These  facts  point  to  the  growing  influence  of 
the  miners  in  the  district ;  and  the  reference  to  Thomas  Burt  is  not  out  of  place ;  for 
besides  his  early  association  with  C.  C.  McKechnie,  and  others  of  our  ministers  in  the 
old  North  Shields  Circuit,  he  was,  during  his  residence  in  Blyth,  the  close  friend  of 

*  See  Rev.  S.  Horton's  article  on  him  in  Aldersgate,  1901,  p.  219. 

fttev.  C.  C.  McKechnie's  MS.  Autobiography.     For  a  reference  to  the  troubles  in  Blyth,  see 

"  The  Earnest  Preacher,"  p.  125.    Joseph  Spoor  resided  at  Blyth  in  1845. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE. 


183 


Hugh  Gilmore,  and,  in  association  with  him  and  men  of  kindred  spirit,  such  as  Robert 
Lawther  and  William  Bell,  took  part  in  many  a  local  fight  for  truth  and  righteousness. 
In  this  part  of  the  country,  at  least,  our  Church  has  developed  with  the  development  of 
the  coal-trade,  and  has  attended  upon  its  movements.  The  sinking  of  a  pit  has  always 
meant  the  establishment  of  a  society ;  for,  amongst  the  sinkers  and  miners  drawn  to  the 
spot,  were  sure  to  be  some  Primitive  Methodists,  who  might  be  counted  upon  to  abide 
true  to  their  Church,  and  who,  if  there  were  no  society  already,  would  see  to  it  that  one 
was  founded.  So  the  expansion  of  the  coal-trade,  as  also  its  northward  drift,  go  far  to 
explain  the  history  of  our  Church  in  South-East  Northumberland.  Seaton  Delaval,  which 
had  no  existence  when  Clowes  missioned  North  Shields  or  Benton  Square,  becomes, 


BENTON    (SQUARE  OLD   CHAPEL. 

in  1875,  the  Seaton  Delaval  Circuit.  Ashington,  too,  made  a  circuit  in  1896  with 
405  members,  was  the  creation  of  the  coal  trade,  and  received  many  colonists  from 
North  Shields — men  like  the  Gregorys,  the  Crawfords,  the  Mains,  and  many  besides. 
Amble  Circuit,  formed  in  1897,  is  the  last  outcome  of  this  process.  Here  extension 
is  taking  place.  A  new  iron  church  has  been  put  up  at  Radcliffe,  and  Greyton, 
a  new  colliery  district  of  2000  inhabitants,  has  been  missioned  with  every  prospect 
of  success. 

There  is  nothing  particularly  prepossessing  about  the  pit  villages  of  Northumberland, 
or  any  other  county.  They  have  features  in  common  familiar  to  most  of  us.  We  can 
see  the  rectangular  rows  of  cottages,  each  one  outwardly  like  its  neighbour,  the  inevitable 


184 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUKCH. 


piu-shaft  and  engine-house  and  waggon-way.  But  nowhere  more  than  amid  such 
depressing  surroundings  may  a  man  find  more  use  for  the  second  of  the  two  sights  God 
has  given  him.  Here,  if  anywhere,  "among  the  angular  marks  of  men's  handiwork," 
Sir  Arthur  Helps'  reflection  seems  very  much  to  the  purpose  :  "  The  painter  hurries  by 
the  place ;  the  poet,  too,  unless  he  is  a  very  philosophic  one,  passes  shuddering  by. 
But,  in  reality,  what  forms  of  beauty,  in  conduct,  in  suffering,  in  endeavour ;  what 
tragedies,  what  romances;  what  foot-prints,  as  it  were,  angelic  and  demoniac — now 
belong  to  that  spot."*  Whatever  the  painter  and  the  poet  may  do,  a  Primitive 
Methodist  need  not  hurry  through  this  district ;  for  human  traits,  and  mementos 
honourable  to  his  Church,  are  afforded  by  every  pit-village  of  old  standing  hereabout. 


OLD   CHAPEL,    CRAMLINGTON. 

Here,  for  example,  is  Old  Cramlington  Colliery.  What  memories  are  recalled  by  the 
view  of  its  singular  old  chapel  given  in  the  text !  It  was  at  an  exciting  missionary 
meeting,  held  here  in  1843,  the  idea  of  a  New  Zealand  Mission  was  first  broached— the 
mission  to  be  sustained  by  the  Sunday  Schools  of  the  Connexion.  The  memorial  sent 
from  that  meeting  had  its  influence.  The  idea  caught  on,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
New  Zealand  Mission  was  begun  in  1844. 

We  pass  on  to  Seaton  Delaval.     Here,  in  1859,  exasperated  by  their  grievances,  the 
miners  struck  work  without  due  notice  having  first  been  given.     In  consequence,  eight 

*  "  Companions  of  My  Solitude,"  p.  241. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  185 

men  were  sentenced  at  Xortli  Shields  to  'two  months'  imprisonment.  These  were 
amongst  the  most  intelligent  men  on  the  colliery ;  they  were  all  teetotallers,  and  they 
ha-J  all  been  opposed  to  the  strike.  Of  the  eight  victims,  four  at  least  were  Primitive 
Methodists,  viz.,  Anthony  Bolam,  Alexander  Watson,  Henry  Bell,  and  Robert  Burt. 
Henry  Bell  was  a  man  in  many  ways  remarkable — for  his  intellectuality,  his  character, 
and  the  physical  suffering  he  was  called  to  endure.  Robert  Burt,  the  uncle  of  Thomas 
Burt,  M.P.,  was  arrested  when  kneeling  by  the  bedside  of  his  wife,  who  was  sick  unto 
death.  When  the  manager  was  expostulated  with  for  putting  in  prison  the  very  men 
who  had  opposed  the  strike,  and  were  the  most  respectable  and  law-abiding  men  they 
had  at  the  colliery,  he  replied :  "  I  know  that ;  and  that  is  what  I  have  put  them  in 
for.  It  is  of  no  use  putting  those  in  who  cannot  feel." 

As  you  go  eastward  from  Seaton  Delaval,  you  soon  come  to  New  Hartley,  a  name 
recalling  one  of  the  most  appalling  colliery  disasters  of  modern  times.  The  sight  of  the 
broken  beam  of  the  pumping-engine  is  indeed  a  grim  memento ;  for,  by  the  breaking  of 
that  ponderous  shaft,  in  January,  1862,  four  hundred  and  two  men  and  boys  lost  their 
lives.  We  refer  to  one  incident — -and  to  one  only — in  that  long-drawn-out  tragedy, 
because  it  shows  how  grace,  in  the  persons  of  some  of  our  co-religionists,  could  assert 
itself  as  a  conquering  and  sustaining  power  in  a  situation  dire  and  desperate.  On  the 
body  of  the  back-overman  there  was  afterwards  found  this  memorandum,  roughly 
pencilled  on  a  piece  torn  from  a  newspaper :  — 

"  Friday  afternoon,  at  half-past  two. 

"Edward  Armstrong,  Thomas  Gledston,  John  Hardy,  Thomas  Bell,  and  others, 
took  extremely  ill.  We  also  had  a  prayer-meeting  at  a  quarter  to  two,  when 
Tibbs,  Henry  Sharp,  J.  Campbell,  Henry  Gibson,  and  William  G.  Palmer  [exhorted]. 
Tibbs  exhorted  us  again,  and  Sharp  also." 

Four  of  these  who  preached  "as  dying  men  to  dying  men"  were  our  brethren; 
William  Tibbs  being  a  class-leader  at  New  Hartley,  and  Henry  Sharp,  Chapel  Steward 
at  Old  Hartley. 

The  old  North  Shields  Circuit  has  had  its  vicissitudes.  By  the  disastrous  "long 
strike"  of  1844,  which  lasted  eighteen  weeks,  the  societies  were  almost  wrecked.  The 
miners  were  ejected  from  their  homes,  and  had  to  camp  in  the  lanes,  or  where  they 
could.  But  if  the  societies  have  at  times  been  "  minished  and  brought  low,"  they  have 
also  had  their  seasons  of  revival  and  replenishment,  as  the  following  extract  from 
Rev.  C.  C.  McKechnie's  MS.  autobiography,  referring  to  the  great  revival  of  1867, 
will  show : — 

"  Contemporaneous  with  this  great  and  good  work  in  the  town  [of  North  Shields], 
a  similar  work  was  going  on  all  over  the  circuit.  I  am  not  aware  that  a  single 
place  in  the  circuit  failed  to  share  in  the  marvellous  visitation.  Such  places  as 
Seaton  Delaval,  Cramlington,  Dudley,  Howden,  Cullercoats,  where  we  had  a  good 
staff  of  workers,  and  a  considerable  population,  reaped  the  largest  harvest.  The 
revival  scenes  at  these  places  were  often  glorious.  They  cannot,  indeed,  be 
described  without  using  language  that  would  appear  extravagant.  Often  when 
I  have  seen  crowds,  yea,  crowds  of  men  and  women  flocking  to  the  penitents'  form, 
and  with  strong  crying  and  tears  pleading  with  God  for  mercy,  I  have  felt  utterly 


186 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


broken  down.  The  whole  countryside  was  moved.  It  almost  seemed  as  if  the 
Millennium  was  rushing  upon  us,  and  as  if  the  entire  population  were  being 
enclosed  in  the  gospel-net." 

This  witness  is  true,  as  the  present  writer  can  avouch.  The  numerical  returns  for  the 
North  Shields  Circuit  for  1868-9  show  an  increase  of  six  hundred  members  for  the 
two  years. 

To  give  pen-and-ink  sketches  of  the  worthies  of  this  part  of  the  old  North  Shields 
Circuit  is  impossible,  and  we  shall  not  attempt  it.  The  portraits  of  two  or  three,  out 
of  scores  equally  worthy,  will  be  found  in  the  text.  Fain  would  we  have  given 
one  of  Thomas  Wandless,  the  eccentric  and  popular  local  preacher;  but  here  are 
Thomas  Gleghorn,  of  whom  Rev.  S.  Horton  has  written  an  appreciative  sketch  ;  *  good 
John  Bell,  of  Dudley,  and  his  saintly  wife,  whom  the  Vice-President  of  the  Conference 
of  1903  is  proud  to  claim  as  his  parents;  and  Matthew  Lowther,  of  West  Cramlington, 
afterwards  of  Chertsey,  father  of  Alderman  Lowther,  J.P.,  of  Brighton. 


THOMAS   GLEGHORN.          MR.    JOHN   BELL,    DUDLEY. 


MRS.    BELL,    DUDLEY. 


MATTHEW   LOWTHER. 


PRIMITIVE  METHODISM  AND  THE  MINERS  OF  THE  NORTH. 

The  claim  is  here  made  that  our  Church  has  materially  assisted  the  miners  of 
Northumberland  and  Durham  in  working  out  their  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual 
salvation,  and  that  among  them  as  a  class  may  be  found  some  of  the  choicest  samples 
of  the  fruit  of  our  labours.  This  is  the  claim  made,  and  it  is  a  large  one.  But,  large 
though  it  be,  the  claim  is  conceded  by  those  best  qualified  to  pronounce  j  udgment 
according  to  the  facts  with  which  they  are  fully  conversant.  One  such  expert  witness 
is  Principal  Fairbairn,  who  recently  wrote : — 

"  The  Primitive  Methodist  Church  has  without  aid  from  taxes  or  rates,  achieved 
for  the  godly  manhood  of  the  miners  in  Northumberland  and  Durham  more  than 
could  be  achieved  had  all  the  schools  been  non-provided,  all  the  teachers  been 
appointed  by  the  Church,  and  all  the  atmosphere  carefully  regulated  by  the 
local  clergy,  "t 
Another  witness  tells  the  story  of  the  long,  unequal  struggle  carried  on  by  the  miners 

*  Aldersgate  Magazine,  1896,  p.  616. 
t  Letter  in  "  The  Pilot,"  January  16th,  1904. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE  AND   ENTERPRISE.  187 

of  both  counties  to  free  themselves  from  galling  and  impoverishing  disabilities — from 
the  yearly  bond,  the  truck  system,  the  employment  of  boys  in  the  pits  for  as  many  as 
seventeen  or  eighteen  hours  at  a  stretch,  and  other  grievances  too  numerous  to  be 
particularised.  The  struggle,  he  shows,  was  often  attended  with  reverses,  and  the 
leaders  in  that  struggle  not  infrequently  became  marked  men  and  had  to  suffer  the  loss 
of  employment,  or  in  other  ways  were  "  made  an  example  of."  The  first  attempt  to 
form  a  union  for  self-protection,  made  in  1830  by  Thomas  Hepburn,  a  local  preacher,* 
ultimately  failed.  But  still  the  struggle  went  on  until  political  emancipation  was 
won,  one  grievance  after  another  redressed,  the  Miners'  Permanent  Relief  Fund 
established,  the  Mines  Regulation  Act  (1872)  passed,  and  strong  unions  formed  both 
in  Northumberland  and  Durham,  with  Thomas  Burt  and  William  Crawford — both  of 
Primitive  Methodist  extraction  and  training — as  their  secretaries  and  paid  Parliamentary 
representatives.  As  we  follow  the  moving  story,  it  is  significant  that  we  are  continually 
meeting  with  names  already  familiar  to  us  in  our  Church-records,  showing  that  those 
who  were  prominent  workers  in  the  various  societies  had  come  to  be,  by  virtue  of  their 
character  and  ability  as  speakers,  the  recognised  leaders  in  the  struggle  for  the  rights 
of  labour.  And  they  were  moderators  as  well  as  leaders  in  the  struggle  ;  for  there  were 
amongst  their  followers  exasperated  men  smarting  under  their  wrongs,  and  there  were 
also  no  inconsiderable  number  of  young  hot-bloods,  as  well  as  a  sprinkling  of  men  of 
little  principle,  to  whom  Revolution  delusively  promised  quick  and  large  returns,  while 
the  methods  of  Reform  seemed  tame  in  comparison  and  slow  in  yielding  but  meagre 
results.  For  all  this,  the  leaders,  being  for  the  most  part  Christian  men,  and  shrewd 
and  patient  withal,  set  themselves  resolutely  to  withstand  the  temptation  to  resort  to 
violent  and  illegal  methods;  and  the  cause  they  championed  was,  in  the  end,  the  gainer 
by  their  self-restraint  and  wise  leadership,  though  in  many  cases  the  reward  came  too 
late  to  be  of  any  use  to  them  who  had  earned  it.  It  is  a  posthumous  honour  we  pay 
them.  All  this  Mr.  Fynes  tells  us  in  his  book,t  and  then,  in  closing  his  retrospect  of 
the  long  struggle,  he  pays  a  tribute  to  the  work  of  our  Church,  only  part  of  which 
we  can  quote  here : — 

"  Unsatisfactory  though  the  moral  and  intellectual  condition  of  the  miner  to-day 
is  [1873],  yet,  compared  with  his  condition  at  the  period  treated  in  the  opening 
chapters  of  this  book,  there  is  a  miraculous  change.  Side  by  side  with  the  Union 
the  earnest  men  who  have  been  stigmatised  '  Ranters ' — the  Primitive  Methodists 
of  the  two  counties — have  been  working  out  the  social,  intellectual,  and  moral 
amelioration  of  the  miners,  and  in  this  great  reform  they  have  been  very 
materially  assisted  by  the  temperance  advocates  who  have  from  time  to  time 

*  "  When  a  mass  meeting  on  Shadin's  Hill  was  threatened  by  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry  and 
a  regiment  of  soldiers,  the  miners  had  already  raised  their  muskets,  and  in  a  moment  or  two 
a  massacre  would  have  begun,  but  for  Thomas  Hepburn,  a  local  preacher,  who  cried  out :  '  Make 
way  for  His  Majesty's  troops.'" — Hon.  E.  Eichardson,  of  Australia,  in  the  "Primitive  Methodist 
Quarterly  Eeview."  We  mistrust  the  reference  to  the  miners'  muskets  and  the  threatened  massacre. 
There  is,  however,  no  reason  to  doubt  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the  story. 

t "  The  Miners  of  Northumberland  and  Durham.  A  History  of  their  Social  and  Political 
Struggles.  By  Eichard  Fynes."  Blyth,  1873. 


J88  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

laboured  amongst  the  miners.  .  .  .  Probably  no  body  of  men  have  ever  been 
subjected  to  so  many  jibes  and  jeers  from  superficial  people  as  those  referred  to  ; 
but  without  doubt  none  ever  achieved  such  glorious  results  as  they  have  done. 
To  many  it  may  be  a  matter  of  supreme  indifference  what  is  the  exact  creed 
professed  by  Primitive  Methodists  ;  but  whether  they  have  a  creed  or  none  at  all, 
it  is  impossible  for  any  observing  man  not  to  see  and  admire  the  bold  and  ardent 
manner  in  which  they  carry  on  their  labour  amongst  the  miners." — (Pp.  282 — 3). 

It  is  much  to  be  wished  that  Mr.  John  Wilson,  M.P.,  or  other  competent  person, 
would  so  set  forth  the  facts  known  or  accessible  to  them,  as  once  for  all  to  make  good 
Mr.  Wilson's  own  statement :  "  There  has  been  no  more  potent  factor  in  the  moral 
uplifting  of  the  population  of  our  pit-villages  than  Primitive  Methodism."*  For 
ourselves,  we  have  said  all  that  space  permits  us  to  say  on  the  general  question,  and 
cannot,  except  incidentally,  recur  to  it.  Possibly,  enough  has  been  written  to  show 
that,  while  our  Church  has  done  much  for  the  evangelisation  of  the  mining  villages 
of  the  North,  it  has  also  at  the  same  time  been  largely  helping  forward  the  advance — 
economic,  political,  intellectual — of  the  miners  and  their  families.  Even  yet  much 
ameliorative  work  remains  to  be  done,  and  the  fervent  evangelic  impulse  that  helped 
our  fathers  is  still  the  all-essential  qualification  for  enabling  us  to  repeat  the  triumphs 
of  the  past.  That  is  still  primary ;  the  rest  is  secondary,  and  will  follow.  Such  is 
the  lesson  taught  us  even  by  the  secular  press.  When,  in  1875,  the  jubilee  of  the 
opening  of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway  was  being  celebrated,  an  able  writer — 
probably  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead — passed  in  review  the  changes  effected  during  the  fifty  years. 
In  assigning  the  causes  of  these  gratifying  changes  he  singles  out  for  special  mention 
the  labours  of  the  early  Primitive  Methodist  preachers. 

"  One  cause,"  says  he,  "  of  this  great  change  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  railway. 
To  the  advent  of  the  Primitive  Methodists  in  the  North  Country  is  due  much 
of  the  transformation  undoubtedly  effected  in  the  latter  part  of  the  first  quarter 
of  the  century.  The  '  Ranters,' as  they  were  then  universally  called,  had  to  bear 
a  good  deal  of  ridicule  and  opprobrium,  but  that  has  long  since  been  forgotten  in 
the  good  which  they  effected.  The  accounts  published  at  the  time  concerning  the 
results  produced  by  their  ministrations  among  the  semi-savage  colliers  of  the 
North  remind  us  of  the  glowing  narratives  of  the  most  successful  missionaries, 
and  make  us  sigh  for  the  dawn  of  another  great  religious  awakening  which  would 
empty  the  publics  of  Bishop  Auckland,  and  convert  the  rowdies  of  Spennymoor 
into  local  preachers." 

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 

Newcastle  is  a  very  different  town  to-day  from  what  it  was  in  1821,  when 
John  Branfoot  preached  near  Sandgate.  How  different  we  shall  find  it  hard  to 
conceive.  It  is  only  by  an  effort  that  we  can  picture  it  as  a  town  only  one  fourth 
its  present  size,  with  no  Stephenson's  High  Level  spanning  the  gorge  of  the  Tyne, 
and  wanting  those  stately  and  ornate  buildings  with  which  the  skill  and  enterprise 
of  one  man  enriched  it.  What  Haussmann  did  for  Paris,  that  Richard  Grainger 
(1798 — 1861),  a  man  of  lowly  origin,  did  for  Newcastle.  It  was  old  Newcastle  he 

*  Alder sgate  Magazine,  1896  (p.  690). 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND   ENTERPRISE. 


189 


found  in  1834  ;  he  left  it  modern  Newcastle.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  story 
of  Newcastle's  progress  from  comparative  mediae valism  to  modernism,  except  in  so 
far  as  that  progress  is  reflected  in  the  history  of  our  own  church-life.  It  may  be 
a  mere  coincidence  but,  nevertheless,  it  affords  a  convenient  date-mark  to  note  that 
by  taking  possession  of  Nelson  Street  Chapel  in  1838,  the  first  period  of  old  Primitive 
Methodism  in  Newcastle  came  to  its  end.  More  than  that :  Nelson  Street  was  built 
by  Richard  Grainger,  as  was  also  the  chapel  we  took  possession  of.  It  dovetailed 
into  his  scheme  of  architectural  reconstruction.  Our  occupancy  of  Nelson  Street  Chapel 
for  some  sixty  years,  was  co-eval  with  a  second  long  and  somewhat  uneventful  period 
of  church-life ;  but  by  the  acqiiisition  of  the  Central  Church  in  1897,  a  great  step 


VIEW   OF   NEWCASTLE   AS   IT   WAS   IN   1823. 
From  an  old  Engraving. 

forward  was  taken,  in  which  we  may,  if  we  choose,  fancy  a  correspondence  to  the 
elevation  of  Newcastle  to  the  rank  of  a  city  and  bishop's  see.  True ;  we  have  no 
dioceses,  and  do  not  believe  in  bishops,  but  these  things  may  afford  a  shadowy  analogue 
of  the  fact  that  the  one  original  Newcastle  Circuit  has  at  last  become  a  group  of  circuits, 
and  that  the  central  city-church  stands  there  in  the  midst— primus  inter  pares. 
Unmistakeably,  the  three  periods  are  there,  and  these  are  what  we  have  briefly 
to  consider. 

It  was  only  on  July  29th,  1822,  that  Clowes  formed  the  first  society  of  ten  members 
at  Ballast  Hills.  Shortly  after,  others  are  "  added  to  the  Church,"  and  he  records  that 
"some  of  the  worst  characters  are  turning  to  God  here."  On  October  20th,  1822,  the 
Butcher's  Hall,  in  the  Friars,  was  opened  as  a  preaching-room,  and  in  December,  1823, 
through  the  labours,  especially  of  the  men  already  mentioned,  this  side  of  the  North 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHUKCH. 


Shields  Circuit  became  the  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  Circuit,  with  three  preachers  to  work 
it.  On  April  4th,  1824,  the  old  Sallyport  chapel,  previously  occupied  by  the  Scotch 
Church,  was  opened  by  J.  Gilbert  from  North  Shields,  J.  Branfoot  from  South  Shields, 
and  N.  West  from  Sunderland.  The  last-named  says  :  "  It  was  a  high  day  :  five  souls 
professed  to  find  the  Lord,  besides  many  more  who  were  in  distress."  Still  the  cause 
moved  on  surely  if  steadily.  There  was  not  the  rush  and  roar  of  a  great  conflagration 
like  that  which,  in  1854,  half  devastated  Gateshead  and  Newcastle  ;  yet  the  anthracite 
glowed.  What  J.  Spencer  wrote  in  June,  1824,  expressed  no  mere  passing  phase 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  circuit  but  one  of  its  characteristic  traits :  "  There  is,"  says 
he,  "  no  particular  revival,  but  the  work  is  going  pleasingly  on."  Progress  was  marked 
by  the  securing  of  a  chapel  in  Silver  Street,  vacated  by  the  Congregationalists.  The 
street  was  silvern  only  in  name,  as  many  Silver  Streets  are;  and  the  chapel  itself 
needed  considerable  repairs  which,  it  is  said,  the  Rev.  S.  Tillotson,  the  superintendent, 
took  off  his  coat  to  assist  in  effecting.  Still,  the  chapel  was  fairly  commodious,  and 
for  twelve  years — 1826-38 — Silver  Street  was  the  chief  centre  of  our  church-life  in 
Newcastle.  How  much  is  implied  in  this  bald  statement  which  cannot  be  drawn  out 


MR.    W.    B.    LKIGHTON. 


MR.    PETER    KIDMAN. 


MRS.    K.    COOK. 


in  detail !  Some  idea  of  what  was  accomplished  during  these  formative  years  may, 
however,  be  gained  from  the  plan  of  the  Newcastle  Circuit  for  April  to  July,  1837, 
which  now  lies  before  us.  The  ten  members  of  1822  have  now  become  1028,  of  which 
number  371  are  included  in  the  Gateshead  Circuit,  in  this  year  detached  from 
Newcastle.  The  plan  shows  twenty-eight  preaching-places,  of  which  Silver  Street, 
Ballast  Hills,  and  three  open-air  preaching-stands  are  in  the  town  proper,  while  three 
or  four  others  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town  are  also  supplied  with  preaching.  The 
Circuit  includes  Westmoor  and  Wallsend,  and  extends  to  places  as  far  away  as 
Medomsley  and  Wallbottle,  Wylam  and  Shotley  Bridge.  The  plan  shows  four 
travelling-preachers,  of  whom  one  is  down  for  the  "Scotch  Mission,"  i.e.,  Dundee — 
and  sixty-two  local  preachers  and  exhorters.  Besides  these,  we  recall  the  fact  that 
other  labourers  have  been  raised  up,  and  they  amongst  the  most  capable  and  useful, 
whose  names  we  do  not  find  here  because  they  have  gone  forth  to  wider  service. 
Among  these  we  recall  John  Lightfoot  and  Mary  Porteus;  Joseph  Spoor  and  his 
sister,  Jane  Spoor,  who  will  afterwards  become  the  wife  of  Mr.  Ralph  Cook  (himself 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  191 

for  many  years  a  prominent  layman  of  the  Newcastle  Circuit),  and  the  mother-in-law 
of  Dr.  Watson;  Thomas  Jobling,  too,  was  converted  in  1828,  and  has  entered  the 
ministry,  and  will  ultimately  become  General  Missionary  Secretary ;  John  Matfin, 
who  was  converted  at  Sallyport  Chapel  in  1824,  is  now  in  the  ministerial  ranks, 
and  also  G.  S.  Butter  wick,  one  of  the  firstfruits  of  the  Newcastle  Mission.  Thomas 
Butterwick  will  soon  follow  him,  and  become  one  of  the  best  and  ablest  of  our 
early  preachers.  These  are  some  of  the  results  of  the  years  which  the  plan  fails 
to  register. 

As  we  glance  over  the  long  list  of  preachers,  we  notice  the  names  of  some  who,  in 
1837,  had  already  "purchased  to  themselves  a  good  degree" ;  and  we  also  recognise  the 
names  of  others  who,  during  the  next  period,  will  come  to  the  front  and  play  their  part. 
Here,  for  example,  are  the  names  of  W.  B.  Leighton  and  Peter  Kidman,  who  had  already 
begun  their  long  and  honourable  connection  with  the  Newcastle  Circuit.  Both  joined 
the  Ballast  Hills  Society  at  or  soon  after  its  formation,  and  did  not  cease  to  serve  the 
Church  until  the  year  1884.  As  they  were  companions  in  service,  so  in  their  deaths 
they  were  not  divided.*  Every  organised  form  of  local  Christian  philanthropy  had 
Mr.  Leighton's  countenance  and  co-operation,  so  that  his  life  was  one  of  manifold 
activity.  He  was  not  eloquent  by  nature  or  a  skilful  debater,  but  just  a  constant, 
cheerful  worker  on  behalf  of  deserving  causes.  The  good  work,  however,  for  which  he 
merits  special  remembrance  in  this  connection  was  the  starting,  in  1829,  of  a  Sunday 
School  at  Ballast  Hills.  Of  this  he  was  the  superintendent  for  the  long  space  of 
fifty-nine  years.  After  its  formation  the  school  grew  until  it  had  five  hundred  scholars 
and  sixty  teachers.  It  had  its  branches,  to  one  of  which  the  present  St.  Anthony's 
Society  can  trace  its  origin.  Neglected  children  and  youths  were  gathered  in ;  a  library 
got  together,  a  Mutual  Improvement  Society  established,  and  Temperance  and  habits 
of  thrift  encouraged.  Amid  such  influences  as  these  many  a  young  man  had  his 
intellect  quickened  and  disciplined  for  service.  The  Revs.  John  Davison,  the  biographer 
of  Clowes,  and  Thomas  Greenfield,  were  two  of  many  who  had  a  new  direction  given 
to  their  lives  by  this  Sunday  School.  About  the  year  1830  Mr.  Leighton,  then  only 
a  young  man  himself,  invited  a  youth  who  was  playing  at  pitch-and-toss  to  go  with 
him  to  the  school  hard  by.  The  youth  yielded  to  persuasion  kindly  given,  and  from 
that  simple  incident  Thomas  Greenfield  was  accustomed  to  date  his  conversion.  Then 
began,  on  his  part,  that  coiirse  of  mental  cultivation  which  in  the  end  qualified  him 
to  become  a  College  tutor  and  Principal,  and  made  him  an  expository  preacher  of  rare 
excellence.  Thirty  years  after  Mr.  Leighton  won  this  youth  for  his  Master,  the  like 
process  was  repeated,  and  with  the  same  happy  results.  This  time  it  was  William 
Pears — whose  name  stands  No.  35  on  the  plan  of  1837 — who  induced  his  young 
lodger  to  accompany  him  to  Ballast  Hills  Chapel.  That  youth  was  Hugh  Gilmore, 
•  than  whom  our  Church  can  show  no  more  interesting  figure.  But  at  that  time  the 
youth,  though  a  lad  of  parts,  was  poor,  untaught,  and  undeveloped  as  a  lion's  cub. 
He  went,  and  went  again,  to  Ballast  Hills,  and  soon  "  experienced  a  complete  awakening." 

*  Their  memoirs,  written  by  Rev.  H.  Yooll,  will  be  found  side  by  side  in  the  "  Supplementary 
Connexional  Biographjr,"  issued  December,  1885. 


192 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


REV.    HUGH   GILMOBE. 


Hu"h  Gilmore  never  forgot  Ballast  Hills  or  its  Bible  class,  of  which  Rev.  T.  Greenfield 
was  now  the  President.  Nor  did  he  forget  William  Pears ;  for  in  the  last  sermon  he 
preached,  June  7th,  1891,  he  thus  refers  to  him:  "I  lived  with  a  plain,  poor  man, 
whose  name  was  perhaps  unknown  beyond  the  people  in  the  little  row  of  cottages 

where  we  dwelt.  I  felt  that  there  was  something 
about  that  man — not  from  any  natural  cause — that 
made  him  separate  from  the  men  with  whom  I  was 
mixing." 

God's  promise  is  "seed  for  the  sower"  as  well  as 
"  bread  for  the  eater " ;  so  it  is  instructive  to  note 
how  in  Newcastle,  as  elsewhere,  provision  was  made 
for  our  Church's  perpetuity  and  enlargement,  as 
well  as  for  the  daily  needs  of  those  composing  its 
fellowship. 

With  the  acquisition  in  1838  of  Nelson  Street 
Chapel,  Newcastle  Primitive  Methodism  entered  upon 
the  second  period  of  its  history,  destined  to  last  for 
forty  years.  Mr.  Clowes  had  founded  the  first  society 
in  the  town,  and  it  was  but  fitting  that  he  should,  on 
November  21st,  1837,  lay  the  foundation-stone  of  this 
historic  building.  "  The  chapel  was  consecrated  before  it  was  built";  so  spoke  the  feeling 
of  some  who  had  come  under  the  influence  of  his  address  and  dedicatory  prayer.  The 
chapel  was  duly  opened  on  the  7th  and  12th  of  October,  1838,  by  Revs.  W.  Sanderson, 
J.  Bywater,  and  H.  Hebbron.  Its  cost  was  £2,950,  and  even  after  the  opening  services, 
there  remained  a  debt  of  £2,000  on  the  building.  It  was  a  bold  venture  to  make. 
To  come  out  of  Silver  Street  and  plant  themselves  down  within  the  area  of  the  town 
improvements,  as  though  they  were  smitten  with  the  architectural  fever  then  raging ; 
and  for  this  to  be  done,  with  all  the  responsibility  involved,  by  men  none  of  whom 
could  give  more  than  a  donation  of  five  pounds  without  a  monetary  strain — all  this 
was  quite  enough  to  give  rise  to  unfavourable  comments  and  head-shakings.  So  it 
was ;  for  one  whose  memory  goes  back  to  that  time  tells  us :  "  The  erection  of  Nelson 
Street  Chapel  produced  great  excitement.  .  .  .  Some,  of  course,  thought  it  very  wrong 
to  build  such  a  costly  edifice  and  leave  Silver  Street  Chapel,  which  was  greatly  needed 
in  that  wicked  part  of  the  town."*  But  the  men  on  the  Trust,  if  not  moneyed  men, 
were  men  of  faith  and  courage,  and  not  wanting  either  in  good-sense  and  practical 
discernment.  They  believed  the  time  had  come  for  a  forward  movement,  and  so  they 
acted  in  accordance  with  the  old  "dour"  saying  inscribed  on  the  walls  of  Marischal 
College,  Aberdeen  :  "  They  say.  What  say  they  1  Let  them  say,"  and  they  stopped 
short  with  no  half  measures. 

When,  in  1897,  Nelson  Street  Chapel  had  been  sold  and  possession  was  taken  of 
the  Central  Church,  Northumberland  Road,  not  one  of  the  trustees  of  Nelson  Street 
remained ;  all  had  passed  away.  For  once,  it  will  be  well  to  give  the  names  of  these 

*  Dr.  Edw.  Barrass :  "Reminiscences  of  Primitive  Methodism  Forty  Years  Ago,"  Aldersgaie 
Magazine,  1894,  p.  527. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


193 


K.    HOLMES. 


fifteen,  because  among  them  are  the  names  of  many  who  carried  on  the  work  of  the 
church  during  the  years  that  followed.  Speaking  generally,  their  character  was  marked 
by  stability,  which  largely  contributed  to  give  stability  and  a  certain  recognised  type 
and  tradition  to  the  church  to  which  they  belonged.  When  death  came — as  come  it 
did  sooner  or  later — it  found  most  of  these  men  still  at  their 
posts.  It  is  not  often  this  can  be  said  of  so  large  a  proportion 
of  the  signatories  of  an  early  trust-deed.  The  fact,  thus  lightly 
glanced  at,  is  an  important  one  for  the  understanding  of  the  history 
of  Nelson  Street  in  its  mid-period.  The  names  of  the  Trustees 
were  : — John  Scott,  George  Charlton,  Joseph  Salkeld  [afterwards 
of  Howden],  David  Keell,  Robert  Barron,  Ralph  Cooke,  John 
Taylor,  Andrew  Me  Cree,  Thomas  Me  Cree,  William  Armstrong, 
W.  B.  Leighton,  Edward  Holmes,  George  Dodds,  James  Thompson, 
George  Moore,  Robert  Foster,  J.  Lockey,  Joseph  Pattinson, 
R.  Robson,  James  Stewart,  and  James  Gibson.  John  Scott  and 
John  Taylor  are  names  found  in  this  list.  The  influence  their 
high  character  and  fair  social  position  gave  them  was  profitable  for  the  Church. 
William  Armstrong  was  a  man  of  meek  and  gentle  spirit,  kindly  disposed,  and  a  sweet 
preacher.  Edward  Holmes  was  a  familiar  figure  for  many  years.  The  writer,  who 
as  Newcastle  Circuit's  "  young  man,"  spent  three  years  under  his  roof,  gladly  bears 
witness  to  his  piety  and  solid  qualities.  Robert  Foster,  sen.,  was  quiet,  unassuming, 
intelligent,  and  an  acceptable  pulpit  man.  He  and  his  wife  were  amongst  the  first 
victims  of  the  cholera  scourge  in  1853  ;  for,  just  as  London  had  its  year  of  the  great 
plague  followed  by  the  great  fire  of  1666,  so,  on  a  smaller  scale,  had  Newcastle  in 
1853  and  1854;  and,  in  this  dread  visitation,  the  angel  of  death  did  not  pass  by  our 
Church.  Mr.  and  Mrs  Scott  were  also  amongst  the  fifteen  hundred  who  were  stricken 
down  in  that  fatal  September.  For  many  years  Andrew  Me  Cree,  as  Circuit  Steward 
and  Sunday  School  superintendent,  was  a  leading  figure  at  Nelson  Street.  Though 
built  on  hard  lines  and  wanting  in  flexibility,  a  stickler  for  rule  and  a  martinet  in 
discipline,  he  was  an  able  man  and  a  diligent  and  conscientious  official,  and  it  was 
wonderful  to  see  how,  as  the  end  was  approached,  his  character 
mellowed  and  softened. 

Undoubtedly,  George  Charlton's  is  the  best-known  name  in  the 
list  of  men  of  the  middle  period.  C.  C.  McKechnie,  who  spent 
three  terms  of  service  in  Newcastle,  says  truly  of  him  : — 

"  He  had  altogether  a  striking  presence.  Though  not  a  deep 
thinker,  nor  given  to  abstract  or  speculative  inquiries,  he 
had  a  mind  of  great  activity  and  force.  His  mind  was 
eminently  practical.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  social, 
political,  and  religious  movements  of  the  day.  Among 
temperance  advocates  he  stood  in  the  foremost  rank.  He 
was  a  most  effective  temperance  speaker.  Dealing  with 
facts  which  could  not  be  gainsaid,  and  putting  his  arguments  and  appeals  in  the 
plainest  and  strongest  light,  and  speaking  with  the  fervour  of  deep  conviction, 
he  usually  made  a  powerful  impression,  and  carried  his  audience  with  him.  He 


ANDREW  MoCREE. 


194 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


seemed  specially  fitted  and  intended  for  temperance  work.  Let  it  also  be  said, 
however,  that  he  rendered  signal  service  to  the  cause  of  religion.  As  leader,  local 
preacher,  Conference  delegate,  he  made  himself  felt  as  a  power  for  good.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  men  I  ever  met  with  for  open-air  services.  He  never  appeared 
more  in  his  element  than  when  taking  part  in  leading  a  procession,  or  in  preaching 
at  a  camp  meeting.  He  was  a  leal-hearted,  loyal  Primitive,  proud  of  his  Church, 
never  ashamed  to  show  his  colours,  and  always  ready  to  forward  the  interests  of 
the  Connexion.  He  might  have,  as  some  thought,  rather  narrow  and  perhaps 
unreasonable  ideas  as  to  the  salaries  and  accommodation  of  travelling-preachers  ; 
but  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  spirit  of  the  times,  for  the  training  he  had 
received,  and  for  his  extreme  democratic  views.*  With  sundry  drawbacks,  which 
were  greatly  modified  with  advancing  years  and  experience,  George  Charlton  was 
a  splendid  character ;  one  of  the  noblest  men  raised  among  the  Primitives  in  the 
North.' —(MS.  "  Notes  of  My  Life.") 

William    Stewart   and    Robert    Foster,   jun.,  are  names  not   found   in  the  list  of 
Nelson  Street  trustees,  though  their  fathers'  names  are  there.     Yet  the  history  of 


JAMES   STEWART. 


WILLIAM   STKVVART. 


THOMAS    I'ATTISON. 


Nelson  Street  cannot  be  written  without  a  reference  to  them,  and  both  claim  their 
place  in  the  larger  history  of  the  Connexion.  James  Stewart  was  an  early  class-leader 
as  well  as  trustee.  He  had  a  kindly,  genial  disposition  and  a  vein  of  humour  that 
sometimes  ran  into  fun  and  banter.  In  these  respects  William  Stewart  showed  himself 
his  father's  son.  But  the  son  was  also  a  keen  business  man — a  man  of  affairs  and,  despite 
a  constitution  not  over  robust,  he  rose  to  be  one  of  Newcastle's  leading  tradesmen  and 
Sheriff  of  the  "town  and  county."  Prosperity  did  not  spoil  him  or  wean  him  from 
the  Connexion.  There  was  no  stand-offishness  about  him  or  pride  of  purse,  but  he 
was  ever  affable  and  accessible.  In  their  well-appointed  home,  he  and  his  good  wife — 
the  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Pattison — dispensed  a  gracious  hospitality  which,  socially, 
had  its  value  for  the  Church.  He  took  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  circuit  (of 
which  he  was  the  efficient  Steward),  as  well  as  in  the  wider  affairs  of  the  Connexion — 
in  district  administration  and  extension,  in  Missions,  in  Elmfield  College  and  Sunderland 

*  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  the  future  Mayor  of  Gateshead  was~a  speaker  at  two 
of  the  immense  Chartist  gatherings  on  the  Town  Moor  in  1838-9,  at  one  of  which  the  military 
appeared ;  and  that  George  Charlton  also  identified  himself  with  the  miners,  and  took  part  in 
their  mass-meetings. 


THE    PERIOD   .OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE  AND   ENTERPRISE. 


195 


KOBERT    FOSTER. 


Institute.       Meanwhile  he  had  the  generous   hand,  and  his  family-pew  was  seldom 

empty. 

Robert  Foster,  jun.,  was  a  young  man  of  promise  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death. 

The  pious  but  heavy  duty  that  now  devolved  upon  him  precluded  his  entering  the 

ministry,  in  which  assuredly  he  would  have 
taken  a  high  place.  But  it  did  not  prevent 
his  ultimately  attaining  to  the  highest  honour 
the  Connexion  has  to  bestow  on  its  laymen. 
This  honour  was  his  when  the  Conference 
of  1901  elected  him  as  its  Vice-President. 
Except  during  the  years  he  resided  in  London, 
Mr.  Foster  has  been  closely  attached  to  the 
society  that  worshipped  in  Nelson  Street,  and, 
under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  A.  T.  Guttery, 
along  with  Messrs.  Hewitson,  Stokoe,  Morton 
and  others,  actively  assisted  in  the  trans- 
ference of  the  society  to  what  Mr.  Foster 
has  himself  called  "the  city  church."  With 
no  special  advantages  arising  from  wealth 
or  position,  he  has  steadily  pursued  the  path 
of  usefulness  and  the  cultivation  of  mind 

and  spirit.     As  he  took  the  right  road  early  in  life,  he  has  had  no  need  to  change  his 

direction.     The  ideals  of  youth  are  not  outworn.     Hence  this  life  has  been  a  progress, 

and  the  influence  of  that  life  cumulative.     In  him  we  see  the  harmony  of  "  mind  and 

soul  according  well."     Mental  cultivation,  though  steadily    . 

pursued,  has  not  weakened  his  sense  of  conduct,  of  the 

demand  made  upon  us,  amid  all  the  social  groupings  and 

combinations  of  which  we  form  a  part,  for  what  is  right- 
eous and  fitting.     Nor  is  moralist  the  last  word.     No  fear 

of  "  blanched  morality  "  while  the  life-blood  ceases  not  to 

course  through  every  duct  and  vein,  suffusing  all  with 

the  hue  of  spiritual  health,  and  keeping  the  heart  young 

and  fresh. 

Besides   those   already    mentioned,   there  were   others 
(speaking  only  of  the  dead)  whose  association  with  Nelson 

Street  was  close  and  long.     Such  were  George  Dodds, 

second  only  to  his  friend  George  Charlton  as  a  temperance 

advocate,  and  as  a  master  of  incisive  Saxon  speech ;  John 

Ingledew,  kind,  gentle,  unassuming,  a  man  of  blameless 

and  attractive    character ;    of   quite  another  stamp   was 

James  Bruce,  a  godly  keelman,  whose  responses  and  quaint 

sayings  will  not  readily  be  forgotten;  from  the  Yorkshire  Dales  came  John  Wilson, 
and  from  Alston  Moor  Robert  Varty,  both  of  whom  were  generous  supporters  of  the 

cause    and    thoroughly    loyal    Primitive    Methodists.       Nor    must    we    forget   that 

N  2 


REV.    A.   T.   GUTTERY. 


196 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


JOHN   INGLEDEW. 


Rev.  William  Dent,  with  his  alert  intelligence  and  his  solicitude  for  Zion's  weal,  was  for 

some  twenty-three  years,  as  a  superannuate,  identified  with  the  Nelson  Street  Society. 
As  were  the  men  so  was  the  church,  in  the  long  middle  period  of  its  history.  That 
period  we  have  spoken  of  as  an  uneventful  one.  Such  it  was  in 
a  good  sense,  and  also  in  a  sense  not  so  good.  As  a  rule  things 
moved  steadily  on.  The  old  hands  stood  to  their  posts  year  in  and 
year  out.  Now  and  again,  indeed,  there  might  be  a  breeze 
stiffening  to  a  gale  like  that  of  which  the  Hymn  Book  of  1854 
was  the  storm-centre,  or  like  that  which  in  1855  blew  from  the 
high  latitudes  of  Conference.*  But  by  skilful  pilotage  the  storms 
were  weathered,  without  mutiny  of  the  crew  or  damage  to  the  ship. 
Such  experiences,  however,  were  exceptional.  Novocastrian 
Primitives  were  proud  of  Nelson  Street.  They  regarded  it,  and 
rightly,  as  "  by  far  the  most  superior  place  of  worship  owned  by 
the  Primitives  in  the  North."  They  were  proud  too  of  their 

anniversaries  and  of  their  congregational  singing,  as  they  had  good  reason  to  be ;    for 

in  the  pre-organ  days,   John    Kidd,   an  enthusiastic  musician,    led   the  singing   and 

presided  over  an  instrumental  choir.      He  loved  the  old  hymns,  and  nowhere  were 

they  sung  with  such  verve  as  at  Nelson  Street.      He  set  tunes  to  many  of  the  old 

hymns:  that  known  as  "Happy  day,"  composed  for  No.  50  in  the  Small  Hymn  Book 

« I'm  glad  I  ever  saw  the  day,"  still  holding  its  ground. 

But  there  is  a  per  contra  side.      Notwithstanding  its 

intelligence,  its  stability,  and  other  good  qualities,  it  must 

be  admitted    Nelson  Street  lacked  aggressiveness.     The 

town  grew  amain,   but    the  church    did    not  keep    pace 

with  its  growth.     Open-air  work  indeed  was  not  neglected, 

and  once  a  year  a  rousing  procession  would  startle  the 

inhabitants    of    the    lower    quarters    of    the    town,  and 

George  Charlton  and  others  would  deal  out  straight  talk 

to  the  people  who  leaned  out  of  their  windows  or  stood  at 

their  doors,  and  then  in  the  afternoon  a  capital  camp 

meeting    would    be    held    on  the    Town    Moor,    and— 

things  moved  on  in  the  old  regular  way.     That  this  was 

characteristic  of  that  period  is  admitted  by  Mr.  R.  Foster, 

who    says :      "  As    a    Christian    organisation    Primitive  JOHN  KIDD. 

Methodism  has  not  been  as  enterprising  and  aggressive  as  it  ought ;  and  judged  by  the 

census  returns  it  is  remarkably  behind.      But  recently  a  more   militant  and  forward 

spirit  has  taken  possession  of  our  churches." 

The  following  notes  respecting  the  later  development  of  Newcastle  Circuit  may  be 

found  useful.     They  will  serve  to  show  how  comparatively  recent  that  development 

has  been,  and  thus  confirm  the  truth  of  Mr.   Foster's  words  just  cited.     Dealing  first 

*  With  the  concurrence  of  an  influential  minority,  the  Conference  had  appointed  as  an  additional 
preacher  to  Newcastle  one  for  whom,  notwithstanding  his  acknowledged  abilit}',  it  could  find  no 
place.  The  circuit  stoutly  and  successfully  resisted  the  impost ;  and  the  preacher  had  a  year's  rest. 
See  Rev.  J.  Atkinson's  "  Life  of  C.  C.  McKechnie,"  pp.  121—6. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


197 


with  Newcastle  :  A  mission  at  the  west  side  of  the  town  (Scotswood  Road)  resulted  at 
length  in  the  building  of  Brunei  Street  Chapel.  This  was  in  1870  superseded  by 
Maple  Street,  which  in  1874  became  the  head  of  Newcastle  II.,  with  the  Rev.  James 
Young  as  its  superintendent.  Another  westward  mission,  Arthur's  Hill,  founded  in 
1842  by  Mr.  William  Armstrong,  gave  place  in  1864  to  West  Street.  This  in  turn 
was  vacated  in  1897  for  Kingsley  Terrace,  now  attached  to  Newcastle  II.  Eastward, 
Heaton  Road  Chapel  was  built  in  1877,  and  in  1892  was  constituted  the  head  of 
Newcastle  III.  Another  city  chapel  not  shown  on  our  full-page  illustration  is  Derby 
Street  which  in  1883  took  the  place  of  an  upper  room  where  we  had  long  worshipped. 
Strickland  Street  is  the  successor  of  a  joiner's  shop  in  Elswick.  Other  schemes  of 
local  extension  are  projected.  Finally,  Newcastle  II.  was  in  1894  again  divided  by 
Blaydon  and  Lemington  becoming  the  heads  of  circuits.  The  number  of  members 
for  the  five  circuits  reported  to  the  Conference  of  1904  was  1886,  as  against  747 
when  the  division  of  1874  took  place. 

Turning  now  to  Gateshead :  Its  early  history  was  one  of  toil  and  disappointment, 
while  its  later  history  has  been  one  of  remarkable  success.  Made  a  circuit  in  1837, 
it  was  in  1841  again  joined  to  Newcastle.  Its  first  chapel  was  lost  to  the  Connexion 


JOHN  THOMPSON. 


E.  GOWLAND. 


G.  E.  ALMOND. 


through  the  defalcations  of  its  treasurer.  In  1854,  Nelson  Street  Chapel  was  opened 
by  Rev.  Ralph  Fen  wick.  The  lineal  successor  of  that  chapel,  sold  in  1886,  may  be 
said  to  be  the  fine  block  of  buildings  in  Durham  Road,  consisting  of  school  and  lecture 
hall  erected  in  1887,  and  chapel  and  manse  in  1892-3.  Meanwhile,  Gateshead  was  again 
created  a  circuit  in  1862. 

Gateshead  II.  was  formed  in  1891.  At  its  head  stands  Prince  Consort  Road  Chapel, 
the  outcome  of  a  mission  begun  in  1869.  The  Teams  mission,  begun  by  Messrs.  Carr 
and  Scope  in  1874,  has  similarly  resulted  in  Victoria  Road  Chapel;  and  the  Somerset 
Street  mission,  started  in  1875,  developed  nine  years  later  into  Sunderland  Road 
Chapel,  which  has  connected  with  it  a  Christian  Endeavour  Hall,  said  to  be  the  first 
of  its  kind  in  the  Connexion.  Still  another  mission  resulted  in  the  building  of 
Bank  Street  School-chapel  in  1891.  Further  extensions  are  projected. 

One  cannot  but  be  impressed  with  the  amount  of  work  that  has  been  crowded  into 
a  period  no  longer  than  is  often  the  term  of  one  man's  ministry.  How  much  of  this 
success  may  have  been  prepared  for  by  the  sorrowful  sowing  of  the  previous  period — who 
shall  tell  1  Referring  to  the  progress  made  by  Gateshead  since  it  was  made  a  circuit 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


LJCONFERENCE CHAPEL  NORThuKBERLANb  R 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


199 


BENJAMIN   SPOOR. 


in  1862,  the  Rev.  G.  Armstrong,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  many  of  the  facts 
given,  says :  "  From  that  time  its  advance  has  been  rapid  and  continuous,  until  to-day 
its  membership  slightly  exceeds  that  of  Newcastle.  Its  more  prominent  leaders  included 
W.  Peel,  John  Thompson,  Edward  Gowland,  John  Scope,  John  Cherry, and  G.  E.  Almond, 
who  is  still  with  us,  and  is  yet  a  tower  of  strength.  The  great  feature  of  Gateshead 
Primitive  Methodism  has  been  its  persistent  missioning,  and  its  dogged  determination 
to  succeed." 

Men  are  of  much  more  value  than  many  chapels,  and  however  beautiful  to  look  at 
they  may  be,  one  would  gladly  turn  to  the  men  who  got  them 
built,  or,  yet  more — because  they  are  in  greater  danger  of  being 
forgotten — one  would  fain  recall  the  men  who  worshipped  in  the 
humbler  buildings  of  the  early  days.  Some  of  these  we  have 
endeavoured  to  revive  the  memory  of ;  but,  though  Nelson  Street 
was  the  head  and  centre  of  the  old  circuit,  there  were  good  men 
and  true  connected  with  its  other  societies  no  less  worthy  of  being 
remembered.  From  Bessie  Newton,  of  Whickham,  the  popular 
preacheress,  and  Ralph  Waller,  the  Blaydon  coke-burner,  down 
to  the  men  of  the  present,  there  have  never  been  wanting  those 
who  have  stood  by  the  cause  and  furthered  its  local  interests — men' 
like  David  Wright  of  Ballast  Hills,  Thomas  Scott  of  Walker,  the 
Pickerings  of  Winlaton,  and  many  others  who  might  be  named,  did  space  permit. 
Besides  these  who  have  lived  and  died  in  the  circuit,  others  have  gone  forth  from  it 
who  have  done  yeoman-service  in  other  parts  of  the  Connexion.  In  proof  of  this  the 
names  of  Benjamin  and  Ferdinand  Spoor,  and  Thomas  Robson  may  be  cited.  It  was 
at  Walker  the  brothers  Spoor  began  their  course  of  Christian  usefulness  which,  with 
concurrent  worldly  prosperity,  was  hereafter  to  make  them  so  influential  in  the  Bishop 
Auckland  Circuit,  and  far  beyond.  The  father  of  Thomas  Robson  was  one  of  the 
earliest  local  preachers  of  the  Newcastle  Circuit,  and  it  was  in  the  same  circuit  his 
son  began  to  exercise  those  gifts  which,  after  his  retirement  from  the  ministry, 
made  him  one  of  the  most  acceptable  local  preachers  in  the  Darlington  and 
Stockton  District. 

SUNDERLAND. 

John  Branfoot  was  probably  our  Connexional  pioneer  in  Sunderland.  Tradition 
says  he  visited  the  town  in  1821  and  preached  on  the  pier. 
Further,  that  some  considerable  time  after,  John  Nelson  walked 
over  from  South  Shields  to  hold  a  service.  A  good-hearted 
woman  lent  him  a  chair  for  pulpit  which  he  placed  at  the  end 
of  the  Friends'  School — the  very  building  which  soon  after 
was  obligingly  placed  at  the  service  of  the  few  who  had  rallied 
round  the  missionary,  amongst  whom  are  particularly  named — 
George  Peckett,  John  Tiplady,  Benjamin  Dodds,  and  Christopher 
Fenwick.  So  far  tradition,  which  agrees  with  the  earliest  evidence 
afforded  by  printed  documents.  In  the  Journals  of  W.  Clowes  as 
found  in  the  Magazine,  he  notes  being  at  Sunderland  on  July  16th, 
1822,  and  adds:  "there  is  likely  to  be  a  good  work  here." 


KERDINAND    SPOOK. 


200 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


.    tCONM-Kl  .K9C.HAPr.IJ;* 1 1 j  .  I 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


201 


On  September  1st,  he  meets  the  class  of  six  members  who  then  constituted  the 
Society.  Under  date  of  October  8th,  "I  preached,"  he  says,  "in  a  large  school-room 
kindly  lent  us  by  the  committee  of  the  school.  We  received  it  as  a  very  great 
kindness."  This  would  probably  be  the  service  attended  by  a  young  man  who 
became  a  New  Connexion  minister,  and  who  afterwards  recalled  his  impressions.  His 
ear  had  been  so  abused  by  tales  of  these  new-comers  that  he  went  to  the  room  full  of 
prejudice.  Mr.  Clowes  preached  from — "We  are  made  partakers  of  Christ  if  we 
hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  confidence,  steadfast  unto  the  end. '  As  he  listened 
his  prejudices  gradually  gave  way,  and  he  pushed  further  into  the  room.  By  the 
time  the  preacher  had  finished  his  sermon,  Mr.  Lynn's  "  heart  was  bound  to  him  in 
love  as  a  precious  man  of  God.  After  the  singing  of  the  hymn  beginning : — 

'  Come  and  taste  along  with  me, 
Consolation  flowing  free,' 


VICTORIA   HALL,    FKOM   THK   PARK,    SUNDERLAND. 
Scene  of  the  Disaster  of  June  16th,  1883,  in  which  182  children  lost  their  lives. 

he  engaged  in  prayer,  and  Divine  influence  came  streaming  down  in  such  a  way  as 
completely  overcame  me.  I  was  so  affected  that  I  could  not  stand  and  sank  on  my 
knees.  Oh,  the  unutterable  bliss  that  filled  my  soul !  For  many  days  after,  I  feasted 
on  the  rich  supply  of  grace  then  given;  and  ever  after  I  revered  the  name  of  William 
Clowes."* 

Very  soon  after  this  Mr.  Clowes  went  on  his  Carlisle  mission  as  already  described. 
Not  quite  a  year  later  the  Sunderland  and  Stockton  branches  became  the  Sunderland 

*  "  Methodist  Records ;  or,  Selections  from  the  Journal  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Lynn,  1858." 


202 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 


and  Stockton  Union  Circuit.  The  Circuit  thus  formed  was  of  wide  area.  It  embraced 
the  whole  of  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  county  of  Durham,  a  part  which  included 
the  towns  of  Hartlepool,  Stockton-on-Tees,  Houghton-le-Spring,  the  ancient  city  of 
Durham,  and  numerous  collieries  which  were  springing  up  and  rapidly  transforming  the 
character  and  increasing  the  population  of  the  district.  Such  was  the  old  Sunderland 
Circuit ;  and  as  such  it  remained  until  1 837  when  Stockton  Circuit  was  formed.  Two 
years  later  the  western  side  was  detached  to  form  the  Durham  Circuit ;  while  Hetton, 

in  the  heart  of  the  collieries, 
continued  its  connection  with 
Sunderland  until  1864.  We 
shall  not  now  interrupt  the 
narrative  in  order  to  follow 
the  process  of  circuit  sub- 
division further,  although  it 
has  resulted  in  giving  us 
some  twenty  circuits  instead 
of  the  one  circuit  of  1823. 

The  growth  of  the  Circuit 
was  rapid.  Primitive  Metho- 
dism quickly  rooted  itself 
both  in  Sunderland  and  the 
mining  village?.  This  will 
appear  from  two  extracts  we 
give  from  the  Journals  of  the 
time.  The  writer  of  the  first 
is  Thomas  Nelson,  whose  zeal 
and  unremitting  labour  had 
no  doubt  largely  contributed 
to  the  success  realised. 

"Monday,  August  25th, 
1823. — Last  year  at  this 
time  in  Sunderland  we 
had  six  in  Society  and 
one  leader  ;  but  now  we 
have  275  members,  eleven  leaders,  and  a  very  large  chapel  building.  The  increase 
for  this  quarter  is  459.  What  hath  God  wrought !  Shall  I  say  that  this  has  been 
one  of  the  best  and  most  wonderful  quarters  I  ever  saw';!  before;?  I  have  preached 
nearly  every  sermon  in  the  open-air,  and  have  seen  the  good  effects  of  it.  I  am 
afraid  if  our  people  do  not  watch,  as  they  get  chapels']  and  places  of  worship  , 
they  will  cease  to  preach  in  the  open-air,  and,  then  the*  glory  will  depart  from  us 
as  a  people." 

Our  second  extract  is  from  the  Journal  of  N.  West,  and  is  dated  October  15th,  1823. 
As  usual,  what  he  writes  is  helpful.  It  gives  us  a  graphic  presentation  of  what  was 
going  on  amongst  the  colliers.  We  see  them  gladly  receiving  that  form  of  truth 


DURHAM   CATHEDRAL. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  203 

which  was  to  do  so  much  for  the  moral  elevation  of  their  class.  Alluding  to  its  being 
less 'than  a  year  since  our  cause  was  introduced  into  the  northern  part  of  the  Circuit, 
he  proceeds : — 

"A  very  blessed  and  glorious  work  has  gone  on  for  some  time  in  Sunderland  and 
the  neighbouring  collieries.  In  Sunderland  and  Monkwearmouth  (which  is 
a  village  on  the  opposite  side  the  river  from  Sunderland)  we  have  nearly  four 
hundred  members.  In  Lord  Steward's  and  Squire  Lambton's  collieries  we  have 
near  four  hundred  more.  Some  of  the  most  abandoned  characters  have  tasted  that 
the  Lord  is  gracious.  Indeed,  the  Lord  and  the  poor  colliers  are  doing  wondrously. 
Our  congregations  are  immensely  large,  and  well-behaved.  It  would  do  any  of  the 
lovers  of  Jesus  good  to  see  the  dear  colliers  sometimes  under  the  word.  On  some 
occasions  (for  want  of  time  to  wash  themselves),  they  are  constrained  to  come  black 
to  the  preaching  or  else  miss  the  sermon.  And  when  the  Lord  warms  their  hearts 
with  His  dying  love,  and  they  feel  Him  precious  in  His  word,  the  large  and  silent 
tears  rolling  down  their  black  cheeks,  and  leaving  the  white  streaks  behind, 
conspicuously  portray  what  their  hearts  feel.  Their  hearty  and  zealous  exertions 
in  the  cause  of  God  would  make  almost  any  one  love  them.  We  have  five  preachers 
employed  in  this  Circuit,  and  a  blessed  prospect." 

Thomas  Nelson,  it  will  have  been  noticed,  alludes  to  the  building  of  Flag  Lane 
Chapel  as  already  going  on  in  the  autumn  of  1823.  The  date  is  significant,  as  is  also 
the  fact  that  the  chapel  was  not  opened  until  September  3rd,  1824.  For  a  society  not 
yet  a  year  old  to  buy  land  without  money,  and  to  begin  to  build  a  chapel  to  seat 
a  thousand  people,  was  a  bold  undertaking.  Judged  by  modern  methods  and  require- 
ments it  was  impolitic  and  rash  to  a 'degree.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
Society  was,  thus  early,  joined  by  some  men  of  intelligence  and  character,  and  that  this 
saved  the  enterprise  from  being  as  Quixotic  as  at  first  tdght  it  might  appear  to  be.  But 
even  so,  Flag  Lane  was  long  regarded  as  a  standing  monument  of  the  good  Providence  of 
God  over  His  people.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  feeling  that  N.  West,  after 
its  opening,  told  the  story  to  the  Connexion.  To  him  God's  hand  was  in  the  building 
of  Flag  Lane  as  surely  as  it  was  seen  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  in 
Nehemiah's  days.  Difficulties  more  than  enough  to  daunt  any  but  the  most  determined 
were  met  and  overcome.  A  wall  stood  on  the  ground  promised  them,  which  wall 
was  claimed  by  one  who  refused  to  sell  except  at  an  exorbitant  price.  Faced  with  this 
difficulty,  the  Society  betook  itself  to  prayer.  From  the  prayer-meeting  Brothers 
Peckett  and  Sharkitt  waited  upon  the  owner  of  the  wall  who,  after  some  conference, 
gave  permission  for  its  removal.  When  the  work  was  begun  their  available  capital  was 
but  £23,  the  first  shilling  of  which  was  given  by  a  coal-porter.  This  is  but  a  sample 
of  their  difficulties  and  deliverances.  More  than  once  or  twice  the  work  was  brought 
to  a  stand  for  lack  of  money ;  but  prayer  went  up  continually,  and  sacrifices  were 
cheerfully  made,  and  all  conspired  to  beg  as  well  as  to  give  and  pray.  But  what  is 
worthy  of  remark  : — we  see  John  Gordon  Black  and  Henry  Hesman  moving  about,  inter- 
viewing this  man  and  the  other,  and  we  are  brought  back  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
character  of  the  men  associated  with  this  seemingly  rash  undertaking  was  a  valuable 
asset,  and  this  the  Church  in  Sunderland  found  to  its  own  great  advantage  in  this  and 


204  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

subsequent  years.  It  was  strong  in  the  moral  strength  of  its  earliest  and  most 
prominent  officials.  Of  these  John  Gordon  Black  was  as  long  as  he  lived  the  first  and 
foremost.  With  his  tall,  slender,  somewhat  stooping  form,  his  dark  visage,  deep-set  eyes, 
Melanchthon-like  forehead  crowned  with  steel-grey  hair,  and  his  sickly  cast  of 
countenance,  Mr.  Black  was  a  striking  if  not  a  prepossessing  figure.  He  gave  the 
impression  of  strength  of  character,  of  knowing  his  own  mind,  of  the  power  to  lead 
and  command ;  and  fuller  knowledge  but  served  to  confirm  the  correctness  of  such 
impressions.  He  had  a  clear  penetrative  intellect,  and  could  hold  his  own  in  argument 
even  with  men  who  might  be  more  fully  informed  than  himself.  By  the  exercise  of 
qualities  such  as  these  Mr.  Black  prospered  in  business,  and  in  the  end  amassed  con- 
siderable wealth.  He  was  a  convinced  and  loyal  Primitive  Methodist,  whose  services 
in  its  behalf  merited  the  distinction  of  his  name  being  included — the  only  one  of  the 
Sunderland  District — amongst  the  original  signatories  of  the  Deed  Poll.  He  loved  to 
gather  round  him  ministers  of  his  own  and  other  denominations,  so  that  his  home 
became  a  rally  ing-point  for  evangelical  Nonconformity  in  the  borough.  Tho  influence 


W.    HOPPEK.  W.    B.    EARL.  R.    HUISON. 

of  these  re-unions,  and  of  Mr.  Black's  reputation  for  integrity  and  public-spirit,  were  of 
advantage  to  the  Church  to  which  he  belonged.  Sunderland  Primitive  Methodism 
has  always  been  strong  on  the  social  side,  and  has  stood  well  in  public  estimation. 
This  is  in  no  inconsiderable  measure  due  to  the  early  example  and  influence  of 
John  Gordon  Black.  His  funeral,  in  September,  1851,  was  attended  by  forty  ministers  of 
his  own  denomination,  as  well  as  by  many  ministers  of  other  Churches. 

Next  to  J.  Gordon  Black  should  certainly  come  a  reference  to  his  contemporary, 
Henry  Hesman.  As  we  recall  the  reminiscences  of  his  physical  defects,  which  after  all 
were  but  the  foil  to  unusual  endowments,  we  are  reminded  of  Joseph  Polwarth,  the 
prophet-dwarf  of  George  Macdonald's  story.*  As  Mr.  McKechnie  has  finely  written  in 
his  unpublished  autobiography :  "  That  dwarfed  and  deformed  figure  enshrined 
a  richly  dowered  soul,  clear,  piercing,  far-reaching  in  its  perception,  and  with  capacities 
for  high  and  subtle  thought."  As  in  addition  to  all  his  other  qualities,  Mr.  Hesman 
had  a  silvery  musical  voice,  oratorical  gestures,  and  a  singular  excellence  in  his  style  of 
address,  it  was  but  natural  that,  like  the  very  popular  Newrick  Featonby,  he  should  be 
well  received  as  a  local  preacher  by  the  Societies. 

*  "  Thomas  Wiugfold,  Curate." 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  205 

Other  men,  the  contemporaries  or  immediate  successors  of  those  just  mentioned,  were 
prominent  figures  in  the  Sunderland  Circuit  for  many  years.  Such  were  Messrs. 
Whittaker,  W.  Hopper,  W.  B.  Earl,  R.  Huison,  Thomas  Gibson  and  others  we  need  not 
name.  The  fact  that  Mr.  Thomas  Gibson  finally  withdrew  from  the  Connexion  does 
not  annul  the  service  he  rendered  the  Sunderland  Circuit,  and  the  Connexion 
generally.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  the  practical  interest  he  took  in  the  higher  training 
of  the  ministry  demands  special  acknowledgment.  Men  quickly  pass,  and  memory  is 
short.  They  who  can  recall  Mr.  Thomas  Gibson  as,  unimpassionedly,  he  addressed  the 
Conference,  are  becoming  fewer  in  number  every  year.  The  few,  however,  who  remain 
will  not  fail  to  remember  his  skill  in  debate.  How  clearly  he  could  state  a  case, 
marshal  his  arguments,  controvert  a  position  ! 

The  men  we  have  referred  to  were  men  of  good  social  position.      They  were  the  men 

who  figured  on  platforms,  and  had  a  large  determining 
influence  in  the  councils  of  the  Circuit.  They  took  part 
in  the  full-dress  debates  of  the  Quarterly  Meetings  and  in 
the  sessions  of  the  District  Preachers'  Association — large 
and  notable  gatherings  both.  Yet  the  prominence  and 
usefulness  of  these  men  must  not  be  allowed  to  obscure 
the  fact  that  the  strength  of  the  Circuit,  and  the  secret 
of  its  success,  were  with  those  more  sequestered  souls  in 
the  various  societies  who  quietly  did  their  duty  and  gave 
stability  to  the  cause.  This  was  seen  when  the  troubles 
arose,  ostensibly  through  the  building  of  Tatham  Street 
Chapel  (1875),  and  the  subsequent  division  of  the 
Sunderland  Circuit  (1877).  We  have  used  the  word 
"ostensibly  "  ;  for  though  these  events  were  the  occasion  of 
the  divergence,  their  real  cause  was  something  very 
different  from  the  cause  alleged.  However  the  issue  may 

have  been  confused,  the  vital  question  at  issue  was  between  the  will  of  the  few  and 
the  will  of  the  many ;  whether  government  by  the  people  for  the  people  was  not  after 
all  the  right  kind  of  government  for  Primitive  Methodism.  In  the  process  of  getting 
back  on  the  right  democratic  lines  mistakes  may  have  been  committed,  but  not  to  have 
got  back  would  have  been  the  greatest  mistake  of  all. 


SUNDERLAND  CIRCUIT'S  MISSIONS. 

Sunderland  Circuit  soon  began  to  carry  on  missionary  operations  beyond  its  own 
borders.  For  a  number  of  years  it  was  a  Missionary  Society  in  itself,  and  as  such 
published  its  own  Report.  In  that  for  1835  we  read:  "Sunderland  Circuit's  local 
situation  has  prevented  it  from  enlarging  its  own  borders  much  at  home,  but  distant 
places  such  as  Edinburgh,  and  other  towns  in  Scotland,  have  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  its 
surplus  moneys ;  missionaries  were  sent  to  these  places,  and  for  some  time  were 
supported  at  considerable  expense  by  this  circuit ;  societies  were  formed  through  their 


206  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

instrumentality,  and  they  have  since  either  been  annexed  to  northern  circuits  or  formed 
into  new  circuits." 

Sunderland  Circuit  led  the  way  in  seeking  to  establish  missions  in  Scotland,  and 
Carlisle  Circuit  soon  followed  its  lead.  Edinburgh  was  Sunderland's  objective,  while 
Carlisle  fastened  on  Glasgow,  Scotland's  commercial  capital.  It  was  in  April,  1826, 
the  two  chosen  missionaries — Thomas  Oliver  and  Jonathan  Clewer — set  out  for  the 
northern  metropolis.  To  save  the  coach-fare  they  walked  the  whole  of  the  distance, 
billeting  and  preaching,  as  they  went,  at  Morpeth,  Alnwick,  and  Belford.  Arrived 
at  their  destination,  they  looked  round.  They  first  surveyed  the  city ;  not  as  sight- 
seers, but  as  prospectors,  anxious  to  find  the  most  suitable  spot  for  the  delivery  of  their 
message.  They  were  only  doing  in  the  Modern  Athens  what  Paul  did  in  the  ancient 
one  when,  first  of  all,  he  "passed  through  the  city,"  and  his  "heart  was  stirred  within 
him."  So,  as  they  passed  through  the  Grass  Market,  the  impression  they  sought  was 
received.  Here,  where  so  many  of  the  martyrs  had  surrendered  their  lives  for  the  faith, 
they  would  open  their  commission.  Accordingly,  on  April  13th,  they  took  their  stand 
in  the  middle  of  the  Grass  Market,  and  after  singing  the  hymn  "Arise,  O  Zion," 
Mr.  Oliver  preached  from,  "  Is  all  well  1  wherefore  came  this  mud  fellow  to  thee  1 " 
(2  Kings  ix.  11).  On  the  Sunday  evening  following,  a  second 
service  was  held  at  the  same  place,  when  Mr.  Clewer  preached. 
A  room,  formerly  used  as  a  weaving  factory,  was  rented,  and  a  small 
society  formed.  At  first  their  efforts  were  not  confined  to  the 
city ;  towns  and  villages  lying  within  an  eight  miles'  radius  were 
visited.  But  not  meeting  with  much  success  in  these  efforts  they 
resolved  to  concentrate  upon  Edinburgh.  Much  time  was  devoted 
to  house-to-house  visitation  in  the  Grass  Market,  Canongate,  and 
Westport.  In  three  months  715  families  were  visited,  and  the 
tabulated  results  of  the  visitation  were  published.  By  this  means 
public  attention  was  drawn  to  the  sad  spiritual  destitution  of  the 

REV.    THOS.    OLIVER.  ,,  ,  ,  _  , .     .  .       ,  ,      , 

dwellers  in  these  populous  Edinburgh  slum*,  and  the  most  effective 
method  of  remedially  dealing  with  this  destitution  was  suggested.  This  method  of 
systematic  house-to-house  visitation  was  afterwards  adopted  by  Drs.  Chalmers  and 
Guthrie  in  the  parochial  and  territorial  system  they  introduced.* 

Unfortunately,  the  bright  prospects  of  the  Edinburgh  mission  soon  suffered  disastrous 
eclipse.  Sunderland  Circuit  had  appointed  N.  West  to  superintend  the  mission,  and 
from  one  with  so  good  a  record  much  was  expected.  He  had  already  acquired  con- 
siderable Connexional  influence,  and  was  active  in  originating  legislation.  His  last 
effort  in  this  direction  was  to  prove  his  own  undoing.  At  the  Conference  of  1827  he 
brought  forward  a  proposal,  which  became  a  law,  to  the  effect  that  any  preacher  who 
should  refuse  to  go  to  his  appointed  station  should,  by  such  refusal,  forfeit  his  position 
as  a  minister.  What  followed  furnished  a  striking  instance  of  the  "  engineer  hoist 
with  his  own  petard  " ;  for  N.  West,  being  now  appointed  to  South  Shields,  declined 
the  appointment,  with  the  result  that  the  year  1828  saw  both  the  disappearance  of 

*  Nor  was  the  method  adopted  without  acknowledgment.  Rev.  J.  Wenn  affirms  that,  in  a  private 
conversation  with  him,  Dr.  Guthrie  made  such  acknowledgment. 


THE   PERIOD   OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  207 

N.  West's  name  from  the  list  of  preachers,  and  also  the  first  appearance  on  the  statute 
book  of  that  enactment  which  led  to  his  passing.  But  N.  West  did  not  leave  the 
Connexion  unattended.  He  took  possession  of  the  preaching-room,  and  drew  away 
the  greater  portion  of  the  society.  Then  John  Bowes  was  sent  to  patch  up  the  rent, 
but  made  it  worse  by  going  over  to  the  malcontents.  Jabez  Burns,  too,  who  had  given 
Mr.  Petty  his  first  ticket,  joined  the  secessionists.  For  a  time  they  worked  together 
and  established  several  societies,  but  ultimately  the  leaders  disagreed  amongst  them- 
selves, and  then  parted  to  go  their  several  ways.  N".  West  went  to  the  United  States, 
where  he  became  a  D.I),  and  chaplain  to  the  Federal  forces.  Jabez  Burns  also  became 
a  D.D.,  a  Baptist  minister,  and  a  publisher  of  sermons  that  had  some  vogue  in  their  day. 
As  for  Mr.  John  Bowes,  we  are  told  he  became  a  teetotal  lecturer  and  the  advocate 
of  an  unpaid  ministry.  Meanwhile,  the  Primitive  Methodist  society  was  a  mere  wreck, 
and  W.  Clowes  might  well  ask  in  writing  John  Flesher :  "  What  shall  we  do  for 
Edinburgh1?"  The  person  thus  appealed  to  was  sent  to  save  the  situation.  Hull  Circuit 
agreed,  with  certain  stipulations,  to  relieve  Sunderland  of  the  charge  of  Edinburgh ; 
and  Mr.  Flesher  spent  some  anxious  months  of  1830-1  in  the  northern  metropolis, 
away  from  his  wife  and  family  and,  vested  with  plenary  powers,  did  his  best  to  reorganise 
and  strengthen  the  society.  Xo  good  purpose  would  be  served  by  following  the  earlier 
history  of  Edinburgh  further  in  detail.  It  was  transferred  to  Berwick — to  Glasgow. 
It  became  an  independent  station ;  it  came  again  under  Sunderland  Circuit's  sheltering 
wing.  Good  men  laboured  upon  it — men  like  David  Beattie,  J.  A.  Bastow,  Hugh 
Campbell,  Christopher  Hallarn,  John  Wenn.  It  gave  James  Macpherson  to  our  ministry 
in  1833,  which  gift  compensated  for  much.  Other  Churches  reaped  large  benefit 
from  our  labours,  right  along  from  the  time  the  first  sermon  in  the  Grass  Market 
gave  Dr.  Lindsay  Alexander  one  of  his  best  deacons.  In  1838,  Edinburgh  missioned 
Alloa  and  Dunfermline,  and  two  years  afterwards  Alloa  was  taken  under  the  care  of 
Sunderland  as  a  separate  mission,  and  such  it  remained  for  some  years,  though  a  small 
and  feeble  cause. 

Our  remarks  on  the  earlier  history  of  Edinburgh  may  fittingly  end  by  a  glance 
forward  to  the  next  most  important  event  in  its  history.  This  was  the  erection,  in  1861, 
of  the  Victoria  Terrace  Chapel,  through  the  energetic  efforts  of  the  Rev.  J.  Vaughan,  the 
superintendent.  At  his  first  service  in  the  city  he  had  but  eight  hearers,  and  the 
outlook  was  anything  but  promising.  But  some  three  weeks  after  his  arrival,  great 
excitement  was  caused  by  the  fall  of  a  five-storied  building,  by  which  several  persons 
were  crushed  to  death  and  others  maimed.  It  was  then  the  well-known  incident 
occurred :  A  voice  was  heard  saying,  "  Heave  away,  lads,  I'm  no  dead  yet."  The 
voice  came  from  a  poor  fellow  buried  beneath  the  debris,  who  was  forthwith  extricated. 
Mr.  Vaughan  sought  to  improve  the  occasion  by  preaching  near  the  scene  of  the  catastrophe ; 
and  from  that  time  a  revival  began  which  greatly  assisted  the  forward  movement. 
It  might  almost  seem  as  if  preacher  and  people  had  adopted  the  motto  of  the  brave 
young  Scotsman  who  was  the  hero  of  the  hour.  A  chapel,  school,  and  dwelling-house 
were  built  at  a  cost  of  £1600,  and  of  this  sum  considerably  more  than  £1000  was 
raised.  After  all  the  migrations  of  the  years  from  one  rented  room  to  another  a  home 
was  at  last  obtained  in  the  chief  city  of  Scotland,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  old  Grass 


208 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


Market,  where  the  first  missionaries  had  stood.  Tranent,  too,  and  Elphinstone  were 
missioned,  and  a  chapel  built  at  the  former  place.  But  long  before  these  events 
occurred  Edinburgh  had  passed  from  the  care  of  Sunderland  Circuit.  Its  subsequent 
history,  as  well  as  that  of  Paisley,  and  Glasgow  with  its  offshoots — Calder  Bank, 
Motherwell,  and  Wishaw — must  be  glanced  at  when  we  come  to  consider  the  work 
of  the  General  Missionary  Committee  and  the  formation  of  the  North  British  District. 

Some  time  in  1822  a  Christian  philanthropist  in  Scotland  wrote  W.  Clowes,  pressing 
him  to  begin  at  once  an  evangelistic  mission  in  that  country.     Through  some  mischance 

the  letter  was  not  read  by  Clowes 
until  a  year  after  it  was  written. 
Afterwards,  when  reflecting  upon 
this  incident,  Clowes  regretted  the 
mischance,  and  was  disposed  to 
blame  a  malign  power  for  its  occur- 
rence. "I  thought  it  was  unfortunate 
that  I  had  not  received  his  letter 
immediately  after  its  arrival :  as  I 
should  most  likely  have  missioned 
Scotland,  being  at  the  time  at  Shields 
in  the  North,  where  the  work  was 
going  on  prosperously.  I  believe 
Satan  laboured  unusually  hard  to 
get  me  out  of  the  North  ;  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  I  left  it  too  early." 
It  is  not  often  Clowes  criticises 
events  in  this  way,  and  acquaints  us 
with,  his  personal  predilections.  One 
cannot  but  think  that  Primitive 
Methodism  might  have  got  a  better 
start  in  Scotland  if  that  letter — 
but  we  leave  it.  Our  business  is  not 
with  the  might-have-beens. 

We  have  now  to  chronicle  the 
establishment  of  a  mission  in  the 
Channel  Islands  by  the  Sunderland 
Circuit.  This  was  in  [March,  1832,  when  the  circuit,  having  been  relieved  of  the 
Edinburgh  mission,  was  now^free  to  turn  elsewhere.  Moreover,  the  circuit  was  in 
a  very  prosperous  condition.  The  tragic  death  of  Messrs.  Branfoot  and  Hewson  had 
been  over-ruled  for  good.  -The  event  had  left  a  deep  and  solemn  feeling  amongst 
the  societies.  The  places  left  vacant  were  immediately  filled,  March,  1831,  by 
Messrs  J.  Petty 'and  W.  Lister.  It  is  difficult  to  realise  that  at  this  time  Mr.  Petty 
was  but  four  and  twenty  years  of  age.  He  came  to  the  circuit  just  after  he  had 
experienced  an  extraordinary  work  of  grace  in  his  own  soul.  He  was  in  a  state  of 
spiritual  exaltation,  and  there  is  ample  evidence  to  show  that  his  preaching  of  holiness, 


FIRST    CHAPEL,    EDINBURGH. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  209 

and  the  sanctity  and  sweetness  of  his  own  character,  had  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
societies  and  especially  on  his  colleagues.  "  I  had  not  been  an  hour  in  his  company," 
says  Mr.  Lister,  "before  I  was  united  to  him."  Almost  the  first  duty  of  the  new- 
comers was  to  visit  the  widows  of  the  deceased  ministers.  While  praying  and 
conversing  together,  "  we  had,"  says  Mr.  Lister,  "  a  glorious  baptism ;  Mrs.  Hewson 
praised  God  for  a  clean  heart."  Messrs.  Lister  and  Hebbron  both  became  seekers  of 
the  blessing  of  full  salvation,  and  both  rejoiced  in  its  realisation.  With  the  preachers 
thus  aglow  and  the  people  urged  to  seek  after  sanctification  of  heart  and  life,  a  revival 
broke  out,  as  might  have  been  anticipated.  In  another  way  the  revival  had  been 
prepared  for.  Towards  the  close  of  1831,  Sunderland  and  the  district  suffered  severely 
from  the  ravages  of  cholera,  and  the  minds  of  many  were  seriously  turned  towards 
religion,  the  result  being  that  in  1832  an  increase  of  six  hundred  members  was  reported. 
South  Shields  Circuit  shared  in  this  revivak  While  it  was  in  progress  certain  sailors 
from  Guernsey  had  attended  some  meetings  of  extraordinary  power,  and  had  expressed 
a  strong  desire  that  a  missionary  might  be  sent  to  their  native  island.  It  was  therefore 
resolved  that  the  two  circuits,  South  Shields  and  Sunderland,  should  co-operate  in 
sending  a  missionary.  Mr.  George  Cosens,  a  native  of  the  West  Indies,  was  the  person 
selected,  largely,  it  would  seem,  because  "his  colour  would  attract  in  open-air  services." 
Mr.  Cosens  reached  the  island  in  May,  1832,  and  began  his  work  under  promising 
conditions.  Soon  another  missionary  was  sent  to  his  support,  and  then  "  something 
happened."  At  St.  Peter's  Port,  Guernsey,  Mr.  Cosens,  being  annoyed  at  the  conduct 
of  some  giddy  young  people  who  were  present  at  the  service,  spoke  unadvisedly 
with  his  lips.  The  laws  of  the  island  are  peculiar;  Mr.  Cosens  was  summoned  and 
fined,  and  in  April  Mr.  Petty  took  his  place  on  the  islands,  and  during  his  twelve 
months'  stay  endeavoured  to  repair  the  damage  the  mission  had  sustained. 

The  Norman  Isles  mission  is  of  some  importance  historically  because  it  was  but 
part  of  a  much  larger  scheme  which  never  came  into  being.  The  Norman  Isles  were 
to  be  but  the  stepping-stones  to  France.  Missionaries  were  to  be  sent  there  for  a  time 
to  acquire  the  language,  and  in  other  ways  to  prepare  themselves  for  what  was  to  be 
regarded  as  their  main  work — labouring  on  the  soil  of  France.  This  purpose  is  clearly 
stated  in  Sunderland's  Missionary  Report  for  1834  : — 

"  We  intend,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  allow,  to  extend  our  exertions  to  the 
wide  continent  of  France — to  a  nation  proverbial  for  infidelity  and  vice — to  a 
people  who  seldom  or  never  have  the  opportunity  of  hearing  the  Gospel  preached 
in  its  purity.  Our  two  missionaries,  Messrs.  Petty  and  Macpherson,  inform  us 
that  they  have  now  learned  the  French  language  so  as  to  be  able  to  preach  in  it, 
and  are  ready  and  willing  to  go  to  France  as  soon  as  the  means  are  provided." 

Sunderland's  dream  of  a  Primitive  Methodist  Mission  in  France  has  been  one  of  the  Con- 
nexion's unrealised  possibilities.  It  is  a  dream  which  other  circuits  besides  Sunderland 
have  dreamed,  even  in  later  years.  In  1869,  North  Shields  tried  to  revive  the  project 
of  a  French  mission.  A  week's  Missionary  meetings,  beginning  as  was  fitting  with 
Old  Cramlington,  were  devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  such  a  mission.  Much  enthusiasm 
was  evoked,  and  representations  were  made  in  the  proper  quarters ;  but  nothing  came 
of  it.  As  for  Sunderland,  it  is  interesting  to  recall  that  the  town  itself  has  still  had 

o 


210  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

its  honourable  association  with  the  evangelisation  of  France,  since  the  founder  of  the 
Me  All  Mission  was  for  some  years  one  of  its  ministers. 

In  March,  1834,  Sunderland  Circuit  reported  1400  members,  and  had  a  balance  at 
its  quarterly  board  of  £50.      At  the  suggestion  of  the  preachers  themselves  it  was 
resolved  to  devote   this   surplus   to   the  establishment  of   a  mission  in  Dorsetshire. 
Weymouth,  a  watering-place  beloved  of  George  III.,  was  selected  as  the  headquarters 
of   the  mission,  and   Messrs.  John   Nelson  and   Cosens  volunteered  their  services  as 
missionaries.     At  Weymouth  they  met  with  a  favourable  reception.     Their  open-air 
services  attracted  crowds,  and  some  remarkable  conversions  took  place.     The  Assembly 
Room,  which  had  for  many  years  been  the  scene  of  dancing  and  revelry,  was  turned 
into  a  Primitive  Methodist  chapel,  and  that  too  was  rightly  regarded  as  a  remarkable 
conversion.     Dorchester,  the  county -town  was  also  visited.     A  Congregational  minister 
who  had  known  our  people  in  Lincolnshire,  welcomed  the  missionaries.     He  promised 
them  the  use  of  his  chapel  when  the  weather  should  become  too  inclement  for  open-air 
services.     He  informed  them  that  though  Dorchester  had  a  population  of  six  thousand, 
no  more  than  about  five  hundred  persons  were  frequenters  of  public  worship  on  the 
Lord's  Day ;  and  that,  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  of  the  town,  there  were  at  least 
fifty  villages  in  most  of  which  there  were  few  Dissenters  or  persons  making  a  profession 
of  religion.     Here,  it  might  have  been  thought,  were  so  many  cogent  reasons  why  the 
advent  of   the  missionaries  to  these  parts  should  have  been  gladly  hailed,  did  not 
experience  show  that  where  the  evangel  is  most  needed  it  is  often  the  least  desired. 
So  it  was  in  this  case.     At  Dorchester  and  in  the  surrounding  villages  the  missionaries 
met  with  a  rougher  reception  than  at  Weymouth.     At  first,  they  experienced  considerable 
annoyance  in  carrying  on  their  open-air  work ;   guns  were  let  off,  bugles  were  blown, 
artificial  thunder  created  by  a  machine  brought  from  the  adjoining  theatre,  and  missiles 
thrown ;  finally,  Mr.  Cosens  had  a  bucket  of  water  poured  over  him  while  preaching. 
In  the  villages   persecution  took  a  more  subtle  but  relentless  form.     Some,  whose 
incognito  is  preserved  by  the  use  of  dashes  in  the  Report,  resorted  to  intimidation. 
To  give  shelter  to  the  missionary  or  even  to  lend  him  a  chair  to  stand  upon,  might  mean 
loss  of  employment  or  ejectment  from  house  and  home.     One  day,  John  Nelson  walked 
eight  miles  to  a  village  during  fair-time  and,   after  preaching  in  the   open-air   amid 
interruption  from  drunken  men,  he  could  find  no  place  at  which  to  sleep.     Even  at  the 
inn  where  he  had  previously  stayed  he  was  refused  a  bed.     At  last  a  kindly  miller  took 
pity  on  him  and  allowed  him  to  sleep  in  the  mill,  though  he  intimated  that  by  granting 
such  permission  he  might  jeopardise  his  tenancy  of  the  mill.     Still,  despite  the  boycott, 
fourteen  villages  around  Weymouth  and  Dorchester  were  visited  with  some  degree 
of  success. 

On  the  whole,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  Sunderland  Circuit  was  unfortunate  in 
its  missions.  It  was  so  in  Edinburgh  and  in  the  Norman  Isles,  and  so  it  was  also 
in  Dorsetshire.  Here,  persecution  was  not  so  inimical  to  the  mission  as  was  internal 
dissension.  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  not  the  last  yoke-fellows  who  had  so  sharp 
a  contention  between  them  that  "they  departed  asunder  the  one  from  the  other." 
Mr.  Nelson  and  his  dusky-skinned  colleague  could  not  agree.  The  societies  took  sides 
with  one  or  the  other,  and  were  rent  and  divided.  Mr.  Cosens  withdrew  from  the 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


211 


Connexion  and  became  a  Baptist  minister.  Mr.  Nelson,  smarting  under  the  judgment 
which  Hugh  Bourne  and  others  had  taken  of  this  painful  episode,  also  withdrew 
soon  after  and  entered  the  ministry  of  the  New  Connexion,  in  which  he  was  spared 
to  labour  many  years. 

"Wey mouth  Mission,"  says  Mr.  Petty,  "did  not  soon  recover  the  shock  which 
the  unhappy  difference  we  have  just  named  occasioned,  and,  perhaps,  never 
presented  such  a  flattering  prospect  as  it  did  when  Messrs.  Nelson  and  Cosens 
began  their  missionary  labours  there.  In  a  subsequent  year  it  was  indeed  greatly 
enlarged  through  the  enterprising  labours  of  Mr.  Thomas  Russell,  and  in  the  year 
1839  we  find  no  fewer  than  four  travelling-preachers  stationed  to  it,  then  under 
the  care  of  Manchester  Circuit ;  but  the  societies  never  acquired,  unless  till 
recently,  the  prosperity  and  strength  which  most  societies  in  other  parts  in 
Dorsetshire  have  done." — (P.  324). 


02 


212 


PRIMITIVK    MKTIIODIST    CHURCH. 


C1IAITKK   XV11I. 
THE   MAKING   OF   NORWICH   DISTRICT. 

|T  the  beginning  of  1823,  the  Nottingham  Circuit  had  six  branches — Boston, 
Spalding,  Norwich,  Fakenham,  Cambridge,  and  Lynn.  Of  these,  Norwich 
and  Fakenham  became  circuits  in  June,  1823,  and  Cambridge  and  Lynn  in 
March  of  the  following  year.  By  1825,  Yarmouth  and  Upwell  (afterwards 
Downham  Market)  had  also  become  heads  of  circuits.  As  these  six  circuits  geographically 
formed  one  group,  the  Conference  of  1825  made  them  into  a  new  District,  of  which 


VIEW  OF  NORWICH. 

Norwich,  the  capital  of  the  Eastern  Counties,  was  naturally  constituted  the  head.  No 
doubt  this  step  was  taken  because  it  was  thought  it  would  conduce  to  the  more 
economical  and  effective  administration  of  the  stations  themselves.  Such  at  least  is 
the  conclusion  to  which  we  must  come  after  reading  what  Hugh  Bourne  has  bluntly 
written  on  the  subject:  "In  1825,  Norwich  District  was  formed  of  six  shattered  circuits 
from  Nottingham  District,  with  1546  members.  These  had  been  injured  by  employing 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


213 


improper  characters."  After  this,  we  must  not  picture  to  ourselves  these  first  East 
Anglian  circuits  as  starting  on  their  careers  with  the  vigour  and  freshness  of  young 
athletes.  There  is  much  that  we  cannot  know,  and  need  not  care  to  know,  implied  in 
those  words  "shattered  circuits."  All  the  more  remarkable,  then,  is  the  progress  which 
the  Norwich  District  made  between  1825  and  1842;  for  by  that  time  the  Norwich 
District  had  become  practically  co-extensive  with  what  we  know  as  East  Anglia. 

We  propose,  then,  in  this  chapter  to  show,  first,  how  Primitive  Methodism  reached 
and  rooted  itself  in  these  primary  circuits  of  the  old  Norwich  District,  and  then,  how 
from  these  circuits  as  the  nuclei  it  was  carried  here  and  there  by  missionary  efforts, 
until  the  greater  part  of  East  Anglia  was  covered  with  a  network  of  circuits. 
Unfortunately,  there  is  little  information  obtainable  as  to  the  first  planting  of  our 


THE   LOLLARDS     PIT. 

Church  in  Fakenham  and  Upwell  Circuits.  It  was  so  when  Mr.  Petty  wrote  his 
History,  and  it  is  now  too  late  to  hope  that  the  facts  can  be  recovered.  Of  our 
Church-origins  in  the  remaining  primary  Circuits,  especially  in  Yarmouth,  something  more 
is  known.  We  begin  with  Norwich,  and  in  Avhat  follows  we  shall  freely  use  the 
information  which  has  been  kindly  supplied  by  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Hammond,  who 
knows  so  much  of  East  Anglian  Primitive  Methodism. 

THE  PRIMARY  CIRCUITS  : — I.  NORWICH. 

The  first  Primitive  Methodist  services  in  Norwich  were  held  on  the  great  open 
common  known  as  Mousehold  Heath,  familiar  to  every  student  of  history  as  the 
camping-ground  of  Ket,  the  tanner  of  Wymondham,  whose  army  of  20,000  men 


214 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


gathered  in  rebellion  against  Edward  VI.,  and  was  only  defeated  by  Dudley,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  after  much  desperate  fighting.  Here  stands  the  oak — still  known  as 
Ket's  Oak — under  which  the  insurgent  sat  to  administer  justice.  Here,  too,  is 
the  Lollards'  Pit,  wherein  the  early  Reformers  used  to  gather  for  Divine  service  as  in 
a  mighty  amphitheatre.  Here,  as  in  another  Gwennap,  they  gathered,  row  upon 
row,  to  listen  to  the  Word.  To  this  historic  spot  the  early  missionaries  wended  their 
way  and  held  services,  so  that  it  soon  got  a  new  name  which  needs  no  guessing. 
For  many  years  crowds  gathered  at  least  once  a  year  for  a  camp  meeting  at  the  old 
trysting-place. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  missionaries  found  their  way  into  the  city.  Pockthorpe, 
its  most  degraded  quarter,  was  not  far  from  Household,  and  soon  the  services  were 
transferred  to  one  of  the  yards  for  which  Norwich  is  famous — Rose  Yard  by  name, 

not,  however,  so  called  because  it  was  fragrant 
with  the  scent  of  summer  roses,  but  because 
a  public-house  named  "The  Rose"  stood  at 
its  entrance.  Here  the  open-air  services  were 
continued  and  at  last  a  chapel  secured,  and 
the  foundations  of  Primitive  Methodism  in 
the  city  laid.  Encompassed  with  formidable 
difficulties  the  infant  cause  pressed  on  its  way 
— sometimes  almost  crushed  with  financial 
difficulties  (for  some  of  its  early  trustees  were 
cast  into  prison),  and  sometimes  its  very 
existence  threatened  by  dissension ;  yet,  for 
all  that,  it  had  such  vitality  and  vigour  that 
its  preachers  went  through  all  the  country-side 
preaching  the  gospel.  Not  only  did  they 
enter  the  villages  contiguous  to  the  city,  but, 
as  we  shall  see,  they  sent  their  evangelists 
to  Yarmouth  and  Wymondham,  and  even  to 
Colchester,  sixty  miles  away. 

Other  openings  in  the  city  were  eagerly 
tried  and  cottage-meetings  and  open-air  services 
held,  the  most  important  of  which  was  Lakenham.  Here  a  loft  was  secured,  and 
services  commenced,  and,  in  1823,  a  chapel  built  at  a  cost  of  £360— not  a  large 
outlay  for  providing  accommodation  for  five  hundred  people.  Subsequently,  however, 
£900  more  were  expended  upon  it,  and  Lakenham  chapel  became  the  headquarters 
of  Primitive  Methodism  in  the  city.  Out  of  the  way,  up  a  narrow  "  loak  "  *  called 
Chapel  Loak,  that  a  stranger  would  have  had  some  difficulty  to  find,  this  building  yet 
became  the  home  of  a  strong  church.  Crowds  gathered  to  listen  to  such  preachers  as 
John  Oscroft,  Thomas  Charlton,  G.  W.  Bellham,  Richard  Howchin,  Thomas  Batty,  and 
Robert  Key.  Meanwhile,  the  Rose  Yard  society  emerged  from  the  old  yard,  purchased 
an  old  brewery  and,  in  1842,  built  the  present  Cowgate  Street  Chapel  at  a  cost  of  £750, 

*  "  Loak,"  a  lane  closed  in  with  gates,  or  through  which  there  is  no  thoroughfare. 


OLD   HOSK   YAKD  CHAFKL. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


215 


in  which  good  work  has  heen  done  in  a  very  needy  neighbourhood.  In  those  early 
days,  Norwich  Branch  with  its  "appartments-"  (sic),  as  the  outlying  districts  were 
strangely  called,  carried  six  preachers,  two  of  whom  were  stationed  at  Yarmouth 
and  one  at  Colchester.  In  1825,  Norwich  had  192  members,  Colchester  19,  and 
Yarmouth  112,  with  seven  chapels  and  twenty-four  local  preachers  all  told.  The 
missionary  character  of  the  work  carried  on  is  evidenced  by  a  resolution  of  one  of 
the  Quarterly  Meetings  ordering  five  hundred  hymn-books  to  be  bought  and  one 
hundred  plans  printed.  Local  preachers  were  to  have  their  licences  paid  for  out  of 
the  missionary  money,  and  no  person  was  to  be  allowed  to  sing  who  curled  his  hair 
or  behaved  disorderly  during  the  service. 


LAKENHAM     OLD   CHAPEL  AND   SCHOOL. 


Notwithstanding  all  difficulties  and  drawbacks  the  work  grew  and  prospered.  A  new 
cause  was  commenced  in  the  west  end  of  the  city,  and,  in  1864,  a  good  chapel  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  £1300,  to  which  schools  have  since  been  added,  at  a  cost  of  £960, 
largely  through  the  energy  and  liberality  of  Kev.  R.  Key.  In  1872,  the  old  Lakenham 
Chapel  gave  place  to  the  present  fine  suite  of  buildings  in  Queen's  Road.  In  1879> 
a  new  mission  was  opened  in  Nelson  Street,  beyond  Dereham  Road,  and  a  chapel  and 
schools  built  at  a  cost  of  £1200;  and,  in  1892,  a  mission  was  opened  in  Thorpe,  and 


216 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHUKCH. 


a  school-hall  built  at  a  cost  of  <£900,  which  has  now  given  place  to  the  beautiful 
Scott  Memorial  Church,  erected  by  Rev.  John  Smith  at  a  cost  of  some  £6000. 

Norwich  has  had  a  long  succession  of  devoted,  earnest  officials.  Far  away  back  were 
William  Wilson,  William  Dawson,  John  Huggins,  and  William  Elmer.  Later  on,  we  have 
the  names  of  Samuel  Jarrold,  founder  of  the  well-known  publishing  house,  and  Messrs. 
Reeves,  Eggleton,  and  Spinks.  Nor  must  Elizabeth  Bultitude,  our  last  female  travelling- 
preacher,  be  forgotten.  She  was  converted  in  1828  at  a  camp  meeting  on  Household  Heath 
led  by  Samuel  Atterby,  and  preached  her  trial  sermon  in  old  Lakenham  Chapel.  In  1832, 
she  was  called  to  the  ministry  'by  Norwich  Circuit,  and  for  thirty  years  discharged 


SCOTT  MEMO  RIAL,   CHUKCH,    THORPE   ROAD,    NORWICH. 


the  full  duties  of  an  itinerant,  chiefly  in  the  old  Norwich  District,  at  a  time  when  the 
work'was  arduous,  the  salary  poor,  and  the  difficulties  many.  At  her  superannuation 
in  1862  she  settled  in  Norwich,  where  she  died  in  1891,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-one 
years.  The  Conference,  in  its  annual  address  to  the  stations,  noted  the  disappearance 
of  her  name  from  the  list  of  preachers  where  it  had  stood  so  long,  "as  though  to 
remind  us  that  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  without  distinction  of  sex." 


THE   PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  217 

It  is  clear  even  from  the  brief  outline  just  given  that,  like  many  other  circuits,  Norwich 
had  its  intermediate  period  of  reaction  and  distress.     When  we  find  the  circuit  reduced 

to  one  preacher  and  109  members,  as  was  the  case  in  1829, 
it  must,  one  thinks,  have  been  within  measurable  distance 
of  extinction.  Certain  minutes  recorded  in  the  books  of 
the  Hull  Circuit  throw  unexpected  light  on  this  trying 
period,  and  when  their  origin  and  purport  are  explained 
they  show  that,  at  the  prompting  of  W.  Clowes,  Hull  was 
ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  a  struggling  circuit.  It 
could  come  down  from  its  "high  popularity"  to  act 
the  part  of  the  good  Samaritan.  W.  Clowes  visited 
Norwich  in  1830  and  again  in  1831.  In  the  former  year 
he  assisted  at  a  Missionary  Meeting  in  Rose  Yard  Chapel. 
He  remarks  in  his  Journal  that  the  city  of  Norwich, 
notwithstanding  its  thirty-six  parish  churches  and 
numerous  clergy,  is  fearfully  wicked.  On  his  next  visit, 

ELIZ  \BFTH  BULTITU  "  after  conversing  with  our  friends  belonging  to  Rose  Yard 

Chapel,   I  saw,"  says   he,    "  the   necessity  of  a  preacher 
being  appointed  to  officiate  therein,   and    to    mission   sundry  places  around  the  city." 


ELIZABETH    BULTITUDE's   HOUSE. 


218 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


The  outcome  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  following  enactment  of  the  Conference 
of  1831  :— 

Q. — "  How  shall  Rose  Yard  be  managed  ? 

A. — "That  chapel  and  its  dependencies  shall  be  annexed  to  Hull  Circuit." 

And  so  it  was.  In  June,  1831,  David  Beattie  was  sent  as  a  missionary,  and  in 
September  he  was  asked  if  there  was  room  for  another.  Six  months  he  laboured  at 
Rose  Yard,  and  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Bennett.  In  1832,  Norwich  reported 
533  members,  and  the  tide  had  turned. 

II. — KING'S  LYNN. 
When,  in  the  year  1821,  Messrs.  Oscroft  and  Charlton,  finding  their  Lincolnshire 

Circuits  over-manned,  skirted  the  Wash  to  begin  their  mission  in  Norfolk,  King's  Lynn 

was  naturally,  from  its  position 
and  importance,  one  of  the 
first  places  they  visited.  From 
the  very  first  they  met  here 
with  an  encouraging  measure 
of  success ;  so  much  so  indeed, 
that  a  letter  written  at  the 
time  affirms — "  the  Primitives 
are  carrying  all  before  them 
in  King's  Lynn."  The  leader 
of  the  first  class  formed  is  said 
to  have  been  Mr.  Streader, 
whose  son  was  to  share  with 
John  Ellerthorpe  of  Hull, 
another  of  our  co-religionists, 
the  distinction  of  having  saved 
so  many  lives  from  drowning 
that  the  mere  recital  of  their 
exploits  makes  up  a  goodly 
volume.*  But,  unfortunately, 
disaster  soon  overtook  the 
promising  cause ;  for  when 
Hugh  Bourne  wrote  of  "  shat- 
tered circuits,"  and  of  the 
employment  of  "  improper 
persons  "  as  the  cause  of  their 
shattering,  he  was  certainly 
thinkingof  Lynn,  and  of  the  dis- 
loyal and  divisive  conduct  of  the 

preacher  once  in  charge.     We  have  already  alluded  to  these  unhappy  occurrences,  and 

*  See  Rev.  H.  Woodcock's  "  The  Hero  of  the  Humber,  or,  -the  Story  of  John  Ellerthorpe,"  and 
Rev.  S.  Horton's  "  To  the  Rescue ; "  being  the  Life  of  W.  T.  Streader. 


BENNET  S   YARD. 
Where  first  preaching  services  were  held  in  King's  Lynn. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


219 


need  not  dwell  on  them  further.*  The  history  of  Lynn  Primitive  Methodism  began 
anew  in  the  year  1825,  when  G.  W.  Bellham,  who  had  done  such  good  work  in  the 
Loughborough  Circuit,  was  appointed  to  Lynn,  his  native  place,  and  began  his  twenty- 
four  years  of  service  in  the  Norwich  District,  then  in  but  a  rudimentary  condition. 
He  had  a  heavy  task  before  him ;  but  he  bravely  set  himself,  in  the  spirit  of  Nehemiah, 
to  repair  the  breach.  He  brought  back  concord  to  the  society,  built  a  small  chapel,  and 
began  a  Sabbath  school  which  became,  as  it  still  is,  one  of  the  most  flourishing  schools 
in  the  District.  He  also  enlarged  the  bounds  of  the  Circuit  by  missioning  Swaffham, 


ALLEN  S    YARD. 
Where  the  first  Primitive  Methodist  Sunday  School  was  held  in  King's  Lynn. 

Litcham,  and  other  places  more  in  the  centre  of  the  county.  It  was  at  Litcham, 
while  holding  a  service  near  the  stocks,  that  the  familiar  trio  of  parson,  lawyer, 
and  constable  came  on  the  scene.  In  the  end,  Mr.  Bellham  was  given  in  charge  of 
the  constable,  and  next  day  was  brought  before  Col.  K ,  of  Lexham  Hall. 

"What  Act  am  I  taken  up  under?"  asked  Mr.  Bellham  of  the  Magistrate. 

Magistrate. — "  The  Vagrant  Act.     You  are  a  common  vagrant." 

Mr.  B. — "  I  did  not  do  anything  to  obtain  money." 

*  See  vol.  i.  p.  322. 


220  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

MtKjistrate. — "  I  meant  the  Riot  Act.  You  collected  a  great  number  of  persons 
together,  I  suppose  to  make  a  riot,  as  it  was  late  in  the  evening." 

Mr.  B. — ''  If  I  am  taken  up  under  the  Riot  Act,  I  have  no  business  here.  Commit 
me  to  prison,  and  let  me  take  my  trial  before  more  than  one  magistrate." 

Magistrate,  with  an  oath.—"  Be  off  out  of  my  sight." 

I/,.  ^. — "  it  is  wrong  to  swear,  sir.     Jesus  Christ  hath  said,  '  Swear  not  at  all.' " 

Magistrate.— "  Then  don't  provoke  me."  At  last  the  Magistrate,  being  rather 
rusty  in  his  law  and  getting  the  worst  in  the  encounter,  said  :  "  Go  about  your 
business." 

Mr.  B.— "  When  I  am  properly  discharged,  sir." 

Magistrate. — "  Are  you  any  trade  1 " 

Mr.  B. — "I  am  a  shipwright.     I  served  seven  years  under  Mr.  B of  Lynn."' 

Magistrate. — "You  are  a  fine  fellow — a  shipwright,  a  parson,  and  a  lawyer.  Well 
you  may  go  about  your  business  ;  I  have  no  more  to  say  to  you." 

Clergyman  to  the  Magistrate. — "Stop,  sir,  there  is  something  for  him  to  pay. 
Constable,  what  is  it  1 " 

Constafde.—"  Eight  and  ninepence,  sir." 

Clergyman  to  Mr.  B. — "Eight  and  ninepence.  You  will  discharge  that  bill,  and 
Lhen  you  are  at  liberty." 

Mr.  B. — "I  am  at  liberty,  sir.     The  magistrate  has  set  me  at  liberty. ' 

Magistrate  to  the  Clergyman. — "Let  the  fellow  go." 

Clergyman. — "  But  who  is  to  pay  the  eight  and  ninepence  1 " 

Magistrate. — "  Pay  it  yourself  ;  bringing  your  fellows  here." 

Mr.  B. — "I'll  pay  it  if  it  is  just  and  right.  But  I  think  the  debt  belongs  to 
Mr.  H." 

Magistrate. — "Be  off." 

Mr.  B. — "Good  morning,  gentlemen." 

We  are  told  that  Mr.  Bellham  and  the  clergyman  left  the  room  together,  Mr.  B. 
saying  to  him  :  "God  forgive  you,  sir ;  I  wish  you  well" ;  but  the  clergyman  was 
too  chagrined  to  reply. 

The  country  thus  missioned  in  1825  by  Mr.  Bellham  became,  in  1836,  the  Swafi'ham 
Circuit.  From  Litcham  Messrs.  James  and  Mark  Warnes  went  out  into  the  ministry ; 
Avhile  Sporle,  near  Swaffham,  was  the  native  place  of  Horatio  Hall  and  Robert  Ward, 
the  Connexion's  pioneer  missionary  to  Xew  Zealand. 

Another  notable  advance  was  made  by  the  Lynn  Circuit  in  1831,  when  John  Smith  (1) 
became  the  superintendent  of  the  station.  He  had  come  from  his  native  Tunstall 
District  in  exchange  for  Thomas  Batty.  His  name  is  carved  deep  in  the  history  of  the 
Norwich  District,  not  because  of  any  special  intellectual  powers  he  possessed,  but 
because  of  the  intensity  of  his  zeal  and  his  single-minded  purpose  to  save  men.  Well 
might  men,  as  they  reflected  on  what  his  advent  had  meant  for  the  churches  of  East 
Anglia,  say  to  themselves :  "  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God  whose  name  was  John." 
By  March,  1832,  the  membership  of  the  circuit  had  increased  by  234,  and  the  circuit 
was  stimulated  to  enter  once  more  upon  missionary  labours.  Mr.  James  Pole  was  sent 
to  the  north-western  corner  of  the  county,  and  missioned  Holme,  Hunstanton,  Ringstead, 
Docking,  Snettisham,  and  many  other  places.  The  mission  proved  so  successful  that, 
in  1836,  Snettisham  became  the  head  of  a  new  circuit,  afterwards  to  be  known 
as  Docking  Circuit.  The  village  of  Anmer  is  in  the  Docking  station.  From  an 


THE    PEK1UU    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


221 


interesting  communication  we  have  received  from  Rev.  F.  B.  Paston,  we  learn  that 
the  time  was  when  the  old  squire  of  the  village  placed  Primitive  Methodism  under 
ban.  Xo  services  were  allowed  on  his  estate.  At  his  death  the  young  squire,  whose 
acquaintance  Mr.  Paston  had  made,  removed  the  ban  and  showed  himself  friendly  ; 
but  King  Edward  VII.,  who  acquired  the  village  by  purchase  and  added  it  to  his 
Norfolk  estate,  has  shown  himself  a  friend  indeed  to  our  Church.  He  has  built  us 
a  beautiful  village  sanctuary,  which  was  recently  opened  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Woodall 
of  Lynn. 

In  1833,  the  membership  of  Lynn  Circuit  was  reported  as  1170,  being  an  increase 
of  843  for  the  preceding  five  years.  It  should  be  noted,  too,  that  about  the  year 
1835  Lynn  sent  W.  Kirby  to  commence  a  mission  at  Peterborough  which,  in  1839, 
became  the  Peterborough  Circuit. 

Returning  now  to  the  town 
of  Lynn  :  the  next  notable 
event  in  its  history  was  the 
holding  of  the  first  of  the  two 
Conferences  that  have  met 
here— that  of  1836.  The 
chapel  had  recently  under- 
gone its  second  enlargement, 
and  amongst  the  services 
held  therein  were  preaching 
services  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  At  this  Conference 
the  Minutes  were  consolidated 
by  the  Conference  itself,  the 
onerous  duty  having  appar- 
ently been  shirked  by  the 
General  Committee  !  It  had 
been  noised  abroad  that  the 
authorities  would  interfere 
to  prevent  the  processioning 
of  the  streets  of  the  royal 
borough  on  the  Sunday.  Xone  the  less,  the  procession  moved  along,  and  one  of  the 
senior  brethren  not  only  preached  a  short  sermon  as  they  went  on  but  also  engaged  in 
prayer.  The  camp  meeting,  held  on  Hardwick  Green,  was  said  to  have  been  one  of  the 
largest  ever  held.  Numberless  conveyances  of  every  kind— waggons,  carts,  gigs,  besides 
single  horses — had  brought  the  people  from  a  distance  of  ten,  twenty,  thirty,  and  even 
forty  miles.  Lynn's  second  Conference  was  held  in  1844. 

London  Road  Chapel  was  opened,  March  31st,  1859.  The  site  on  which  it  stands 
had  formerly  been  occupied  by  the  ancient  chapel  of  St.  James.  At  the  Dissolution 
it  became  a  hospital  for  "  poor  and  impotent  people,"  and  still  later  a  workhouse.  The 
acquisition  of  such  a  site  for  a  Primitive  Methodist  chapel  was  regarded  as  little  short 
of  a  scandal  by  a  certain  section  of  the  inhabitants,  and  every  available  means  was 
tried  to  defeat  the  project — but  in  vain. 


LONDON    ROAD   CHAPEL. 
The  first  Primitive  Methodist  Chapel  in  King's  Lynn. 


222 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


WILLIAM   LIFT. 


The  foundation-stone  of  this  new  structure  had  been  laid  by  Mr.  William  Lift,  of 
whom  a  few  words  must  be  said.  Converted  in  1828  when  the  church  \vas  but  seven 
years  old,  Mr.  Lift  survived  until  1893,  thus  enjoying  sixty -five  years'  fellowship  with 
the  society.  For  sixty-one  years  he  was  a  local  preacher.  "  His  position  in  the  King's 
Lynn  station  was  simply  unique.  He  grew  up  with  it,  he  lived 
through  two  generations  of  members  and  hearers,  he  helped  to 
nourish  and  make  it  what  it  is,  and  in  turn  he  was  nourished 
and  sustained  by  it.  In  truth  we  may  say  that  he  was  in  turn 
both  the  child  and  the  father  of  the  station.  He  gave  thought 
and  time  and  strength  to  promote  its  spiritual  growth,  and  his 
wealth  to  aid  its  material  expansion  and  financial  prosperity.  The 
evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  his  name  is  cut  into 
the  foundation-stones  of  twenty-one  chapels  or  schools,  and  what 
is  surpassingly  better,  his  name  is  cut  into  tables,  'not  of  stone,' 
but  in  tables  that  are  hearts  of  'flesh.  Hundreds  revere  his 
memory,  and  hold  his  name  and  work  in  undying  remembrance. 
Having  grown  up  with  the  station,  and  become  inseparably  associated  with  all  its  interests 
and  movements,  it  was  but  natural  for  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  1853  to  appoint 
Mr.  Lift  as  its  Steward,  and  to  renew  that  appointment  no  less  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty-six  times."* 

III.,  IV. : — FAKENHAM  ;  UPWELL. 

\Ve  regret  that  so  little  is  known  of  the  earlier  history  of  the  Fakenham  and  Upwell 
Circuits.  These  centres,  as  probably  also  Wisbech  and  Cambridge,  would  be  amongst 
the  fifty-seven  places  found  on  the  plan  of  the  Norfolk  Mission,  which  J.  Oscroft  says 
was  printed  in  April,  1821.  In  1824,  Fakenham  Circuit  had  no  fewer  than  six  travelling- 
preachers  appointed  to  it.  In  1826,  North  Walsham  Circuit  was  formed.  This  new 
circuit,  as  we  shall  see,  subsequently  sent  Robert  Key  on  a  mission  which,  in  1832, 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Mattishall — afterwards  called  East  Dereham  Circuit. 
Fakenham  also,  in  1842,  missioned  Oundle  in  Northamptonshire, 
soon  afterwards  transferred  to  the  General  Missionary  Committee. 

Upwell's  chief  claim  to  notice,  in  the  absence  of  other  information, 
must  rest  on  the  active  part  it  took  in  early  missionary  enterprise. 
In  1828,  Brandon,  in  Suffolk,  became  a  circuit,  and  it  is  probable, 
as  Mr.  Petty  seems  to  suggest,  that  it  was  reached  by  the  first 
missionaries  to  Norfolk.  At  that  time,  what  was  known  as 
Marshland  Fen,  at  the  western  extremity  of  Norfolk,  was  a  desolate 
and  barren  region.  Little  of  it  was  then  under  cultivation,  and 
the  moral  condition  of  its  inhabitants  was  conformable  to  their 
surroundings.  They  habitually  disregarded  the  Sabbath,  and  might 
have  said  with  the  navvy,  "  Sunday  has  not  cropped  out  here  yet "; 
for  there  were  no  ministers  or  places  for  public  worship.  In  1832,  Mr.  James  Garner 

•'•William   Lift:  a  Life  Nourished   by   Service,"  in  Aldersgate,  1894,  pp.  911-13,  by  Rev. 
John  Smith. 


JAMES   GARNER. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUJT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


223 


made  his  way  into  Marshland,  and  he  was  soon  followed  by  other  missionaries.  For 
two  years  services  were  held  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Collins,  then  in  a  lean-to  which  he 
erected  near  his  outbuildings.  Finally  in  1855,  largely  through  the  generosity  and 
zeal  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Xeep  and  Messrs.  Collins  and  Taylor,  a  neat  chapel  was  erected 
for  the  society  which  had  done  so  much  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  enlightenment 
of  that  neglected  district. 

To  two  missionaries  of  Upwell  Circuit  belongs  the  honour  of  having  materially  extended 
the  Connexion  in  the  county  of  Essex.  Messrs.  Redhead  and  J.  Jackson  were,  at 
the  March  Quarterly  Meeting  of  1838,  set  apart  for  missionary  work;  but  no  precise 
directions  were  given  them.  They  went  forth  almost  at  a  venture,  and  at  the  end  of 
a  long  day's  journey,  found  themselves  at  Saffron  Walden,  forty  miles  away.  Here, 
on  the  2nd  of  May,  Mr.  Redhead  preached  in  the  open-air  in  Castle  Street,  and  he 
and  his  colleague  also  visited  many  villages.  The  entire  cost  of  the  mission  for  two 


H    AND    MANSE,    DOWNHAM    MARKET. 


years  was  £65,  which,  we  are  told,  was  regarded  as  unusually  heavy  !  The  mission 
continued  to  prosper  both  before  and  after  it  was  turned  over  to  the  General  Missionary 
Committee,  and  in  1850  Saffron  Walden  became  a  circuit  with  516  members.  Upwell 
also  missioned  the  city  of  Ely. 

The  old  Upwell  Circuit  is  now  Downham  Market,  a  place  first  missioned,  but 
afterwards  given  up,  by  Lynn.  Early  in  the  'Thirties  the  Upwell  Circuit,  under  the 
superintendency  of  that  indefatigable  and  successful  minister,  Samuel  Atterby,  remissioned 
the  place.  A  cottage  was  first  used  for  services,  and  afterwards,  in  1834,  a  barn  was 
fitted  up.  The  first  chapel  was  erected  in  1855,  largely  through  the  instrumentality 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kemp,  who  now  resided  at  Downham  Market.  We  give  views 
of  the  present  Church  and  Manse,  erected  in  1871,  also  of  the  late  Rev.  J.  Kemish, 
vho  spent  nine  useful  years  on  this  station.  Downham  Market  has  also  been  fortunate 


224 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


in  havin"  had  Mr.  W.  Sexton  Proctor  as  its  Circuit  Steward  for  so  many  years, 
a  convert  of  John  Smith  (1),  and  a  local  preacher  for  fifty-six  years.  It  is  singular 
that  this  Primitive  Methodist  official  also  filled  the  office  of  churchwarden  for  twenty  one 

years,  and  was  twice  elected  by  the  vicar  as  his  warden. 
The  Assistant  Circuit  Steward,  Mr.  Rose,  has  also  been, 
and  is,  a  stay  and  support  to  the  Circuit. 

Nor  does  this  exhaust  the  missionary  enterprises  of 
the  Upwell  or  Downham  Circuit.  Ely  was  prepared 
for  self-government  by  being  its  Branch,  and  it  began 
missions  at  Ramsey  (now  incorporated  with  Peterborough) 
and  Buckden. 

Wisbech  formed  part  of  Upwell  Circuit  until  1833, 
when  it  was  granted  independence.  It  was  first  visited, 
in  1821,  by  the  Nottingham  missionaries,  who  took  their 
stand  in  the  Horse-Fair.  At  first  they  met  with  con- 
siderable opposition,  and  had  to  combat  strong  prejudice, 
so  that  slow  progress  was  made.  The  first  preaching- 
place  was  the  humble  cottage  of  a  tinker  who  was  one 
of  the  first  converts,  and  this  was  afterwards  exchanged 
for  a  barn.  Yet  Wisbech,  from  an  early  date  had  connected  with  it  some  estimable 
persons  who  had  also,  what  was  very  valuable — staying  power.  Such  were  Mr.  Gubbins, 


REV.    J.    KEMISH. 


VIEW   FROM   THE  NORTH,  BRINK,    WISBECH.       EARLY   J9TH   CENTURY. 

Mrs.  Miller,  and  especially  Mr.  M.  Taylor  and  his  wife,  who  were  well-known  in 
the  district  for  their  hospitality  and  Christian  kindness.  A  notable  acquisition  to 
the  society  was  Edwin  Waller,  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher,  who  after  mature  delibera- 
tion, in  which  he  counted  all  costs,  united  with  the  society,  and  continued  to  be  its 
staunch  friend  and  supporter  until  his  death,  in  1854.  We  have  already  met  with 
several  bearers  of  the  name  of  Waller,  who  have  deserved  well  of  the  Connexion. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPEISE.  225 

We  do  not  forget  the  Wallers  of  the  Manchester  District,  or  Thomas  Waller,  the  coke- 
burner,  of  Blaydon ;  and  this  Edwin  Waller,  "  earthenware  dealer,"  of  Wisbech,  was 
evidently  a  notable  figure  in  the  Norwich  District  in  his  day.  He  was  for  long  the 
corresponding  member  of  its  District  Committee;  often  its'  chosen  representative  to 
the  Annual  Conference,  and  in  other  ways  he  played  an  influential  part.  He  was,  we  are 
told,  and  we  can  well  believe  it,  a  man  of  extensive  reading,  of  close  thought,  and  great 
originality.  Being  a  man  in  easy,  if  not  affluent  circumstances,  he  was  able  to  render 
material  help  to  the  struggling  societies.  He  became  responsible  for  the  rent  of  the 
better  preaching-room  which  was  now  taken,  and  he  willingly  incurred  the  responsibility 
of  trusteeship  for  Connexional  buildings.  In  addition  to  this,  by  his  prudent  counsels 
and  his  abundant  labours  as  a  local  preacher,  he  greatly  assisted  in  the  development 
of  the  Wisbech  Circuit  and  of  Holbeach,  which  was  a  branch  of  Wisbech  until  1855. 
The  circuit  took  its  part  in  missionary  efforts  in  Huntingdonshire  and  at  Ramsey,  though 
the  shifting  relations  of  these  missions  to  Wisbech,  Up  well,  and  other  circuits  is  too 
intricate  a  matter  to  be  unravelled  here. 

V. — CAMBRIDGE. 

Our  two  ancient  University  towns  gave  our  first  missionaries  a  scurvy  reception. 
Oxford  well-nigh  smothered  G.  W.  Bellham  with  filth ;  Cambridge  did  its  best  to 
starve  Joseph  Reynolds.  In  August,  1821,  he  found  his  way  here  from  distant 
Tunstall.  The  letter  he  wrote  giving  an  account  of  his  experience  is,  indeed, 
"  a  human  document " — a  transcript  from  the  life,  touching  in  its  very  simplicity,  and 
revealing  a  heroism  all  unconscious  of  itself,  which  even  hunger  could  not  subdue. 
As  we  have  said  elsewhere,  it  might  have  been  written  by  a  suffering  follower  of 
George  Fox  long  ago.  We  give  an  extract : — 

"DEAR  BRETHREN, — When  I  left  Tunstall,  I  gave  myself  up  to  labour  and 
sufferings,  and  I  have  gone  through  both  ;  but  praise  the  Lord,  it  has  been  for 
His  glory  and  the  good  of  souls.  My  sufferings  are  known  only  to  God  and  myself. 
1  have  many  times  been  knocked  down  while  preaching,  and  have  often  had  sore 
bones.  Once  I  was  knocked  down,  and  was  trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  crowd, 
and  had  my  clothes  torn,  and  all  my  money  taken  from  me.  In  consequence  of 
this  I  have  been  obliged  to  suffer  much  hunger.  One  day  I  travelled  nearly  thirty 
miles  and  had  only  a  penny  cake  to  eat.  I  preached  at  night  to  near  two  thousand 
persons.  But  I  was  so  weak  when  I  had  done,  that  I  could  scarcely  stand.  I  then 
made  my  supper  of  cold  cabbage,  and  slept  under  a  haystack  in  a  field  till  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  singing  of  the  birds  then  awoke  me,  and  I  arose  and 
went  into  the  town,  and  preached  at  five  to  many  people.  I  afterwards  came  to 
Cambridge,  where  I  have  been  a  fortnight,  and  preached  to  a  great  congregation, 
though  almost  worn  out  with  fatigue  and  hunger.  To-day  I  was  glad  to  eat  the 
pea-husks  as  I  walked  on  the  road.  But  I  bless  God  that  much  good  has  been  done. 
I  believe  hundreds  will  have  to  bless  Him  in  eternity  for  leading  me  hither." 

When  next  the  curtain  rises  on  Cambridge,  March,  1824,  we  see  it  a  branch  of 
Nottingham,  but  about  to  be  made  a  circuit.  Its  two  preachers  are  to  be  lent  to  it 
until  the  District  Meeting,  and  the  new  circuit  is  requested  not  to  appoint  Delegates 
to  the  said  District  Meeting  unless  they  can  pay  their  own  expenses.  At  Midsummer 

p 


226  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

of  the  same  year,  W.  Clowes  and  John  Nelson  were  at  Cambridge  for  the  purpose 
of  re-opening  the  chapel,  which  had  been  enlarged  by  the  putting  in  of  a  gallery. 
Clowes,  preaching  in  the  evening,  had  a  sprinkling  of  collegians  in  his  congregation, 
while  the  Wesleyan  superintendent  assisted  in  taking  up  the  collection. 

Again  the  curtain  drops,  and  Cambridge  is  lost  to  view  ;  unless,  indeed,  the  curtain 
is  unexpectedly  lifted  by  the  biographer  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Simeon,*  the  famous 
Evangelical  leader.  There  was,  he  tells  us,  in  Cambridge, 

"A  certain  enthusiastic  Nonconformist  labourer  named  'Johnny  Stittle';  a  kiud 
of  well-meaning,  self-constituted  city  missionary  in  the  viler  parts  of  Cambridge, 
and  called  by  the  undergraduates  a  'Ranter.'  He  used  to  hold  his  meetings  in  a  room, 
and  when  the  attendance  grew  too  large  for  one  room,  he  threw  down  the  partitions 
and  used  the  whole  floor  of  the  house ;  and  again  enlarged  his  improvised  chapel 
by  taking  in  also  the  upper  story,  cutting  out  the  central  part  of  the  bedroom 
floor,  but  leaving  enough  to  make  a  wide  gallery  all  round,  upheld  by  pillars. 
As  he  was  but  a  day-labourer,  it  was  understood  that  Mr.  Simeon  aided  him  in  the 
expense  of  these  alterations.  This  man  and  his  services  were  the  butt  of  many 
a  thoughtless  young  gownsman,  who  used  to  stand  outside  and  look  in  at  his 
chapel  window  and  listen  for  amusement's  sake,  and  whose  annoyances  he  yet 
patiently  and  kindly  bore.  On  some  occasion  of  bitterness  he  is  said  to  have 
invited  a  railing  youth  to  his  house  to  partake  of  the  '  herby-pie '  supper  provided 
for  himself  and  family,  and  then  persuaded  him  to  stay  and  join  in  his  simple 
but  hearty  family  worship,  which  resulted  in  the  young  man's  beginning  to  think 
seriously  on  religion,  and  ultimately  becoming  a  valuable  clergyman."* 

In  this  extract  the  "self-constituted  city  missionary"  has  given  him  the  same  reproachful 
name  our  fathers  bore;  nor,  indeed,  do  we  know  of  any  other  denomination,  besides 
our  own,  that,  before  1836 — the  year  of  Simeon's  death — would  have  made  room  for 
John  Stittle  and  his  methods.  We  have  not  the  least  objection  to  acknowledge  him 
as  one  of  ourselves,  especially  as  the  sermon  given  as  a  specimen  of  his  preaching 
would  do  no  discredit  to  any  Cambridge  pulpit. 

In  the  course  of  years,  circuits,  like  soldiers  on  a  long  march,  are  apt  to  drop  out 
of  the  ranks.  So  it  was  with  Cambridge,  for  a  short  time. 
In  1842,  it  ranks  as  the  eighteenth  circuit  in  the  Norwich 
District,  whereas  it  began,  in  1825,  as  the  third.  The  explanation 
is  that  for  three  years — 1834  to  1836  inclusive — it  disappeared 
from  the  list  of  stations,  but  came  on  again  in  1837.  The  plan 
of  1842  shows  six  places-,  which  include  Waterbeach,  St.  Ives, 
and  Huntingdon.  St.  Peter's  Street  Chapel  had  recently  been 
acquired,  and  by  1855  the  progress  of  the  circuit  was  such  that 
a  second  chapel  was  secured  in  Barnwell,  the  eastern  district  of 
the  town.  This  was  Fitzroy  Street  Chapel,  the  first  which  the 
Wesleyans  had  possessed  in  Cambridge,  and  had  now  vacated. 
This  building  was  secured  on  generous  terms,  and  opened  by 
Miss  M.  C.  Buck,  the  most  popular  female  preacher  in  this  period  of  our  history. 

* "  Recollections  of  the  Conversational  Parties  of  the   Rev.  Charles  Simeon,  etc.,"  by  A.  W. 
Brown,  M.A.,  pp.  13-15.. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


227 


Miss  Buck  was  called  into  the  ministry  by  the  Burland  Circuit  in  1836  and  although, 
unlike  Miss  Bultitude,  she  ceased  "  to  travel "  in  the  technical  sense,  she  continued  to 
be  in  great  request  for  special  services.  The  fact  that  Cambridge  provided  for  the 
Conference  of  1857  marks  the  advance  which,  by  this  time,  it  had  made. 

A  word  as  to  the  interesting  towns  of  Huntingdon  and  St.  Ives,  so  full  of  Cromwellian 
associations.  From  the  Journals  of  W.  Dawson  in  the  Magazine  for  1822,  we  learn  that 
as  a  preacher  of  the  Boston  Circuit,  he  spent  a  week  in  missioning  this  neighbourhood. 
Under  date  of  September  2nd,  1821,  he  writes:  "I  spoke  to  a  large  congregation  in 
the  market-place  at  Huntingdon.  Some  seemed  to  wonder,  some  mocked,  and  some 
wept.  At  two,  I  spoke  at  Godmanchester :  very  many  attended.  At  six,  T.  Steele, 
from  Tunstall,  spoke  at  Huntingdon,  together  with  a  blind  young  man  out  of  Cheshire." 
He  further  says  he  formed  a  class  of  seven  members  at  Godmanchester.  Whether 


THE   BRIDGE  AND   QUAY,    ST.    IVES,    HUNTS. 

Wisbech  found  any  vestiges  of  this  visit  when  it  began  its  missionary  labours  in 
Huntingdonshire,  we  know  not.  As  for  St.  Ives,  tradition,  apparently  trustworthy, 
gives  1837  as  the  year  when  Primitive  Methodism  entered  the  town.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  brought  by  one  —  Bridge  and  Mrs.  Beel.  The  former  is  on  the  Cambridge  plan 
of  1842  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Circuit  Committee,  was  evidently  a  leading  official. 
The  first  building  occupied  is  said  to  have  been  the  old  Baptist  Chapel  in  Water  Lane, 
and  much  later  a  remove  Avas  made  to  a  building  on  the  Quay,  said  to  be  the  oldest 
meeting-house  in  Huntingdonshire,  having  been  used  by  successive  bodies  of  Noncon- 
formists for  two  hundred  years.  This  was  occupied  until  the  present  new  and  handsome 
building  was  erected.*  In  1897,  the  General  Missionary  Committee  made  St.  Ives 
a  circuit,  and  it  was  annexed  to  the  Lynn  and  Cambridge  District. 


*  See  article  in  Aldersgate  Magazine,  1896,  pp.  282-6. 


r  2 


228  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

VI. — YARMOUTH. 

Though  one  of  the  primary  circuits  of  the  original  Norwich  District,  this  strong 
circuit  was  in  its  beginning  an  offshoot  of  Norwich.  Yet  persistent  tradition  points 
to  a  man  rather  than  to  a  circuit,  to  individual  Christian  effort  rather  than  to  official 
action,  as  having  paved  the  way  for  the  establishment  of  a  Primitive  Methodist  cause 
in  Yarmouth.  One  Driver,  a  Primitive  Methodist  from  the  Midlands,  drawn  here  by 
his  employment,  is  said  to  have  preached  in  the  open-air  and,  if  he  did  not  actually 
organise  a  society,  to  have  "  made  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord."  However 
this  may  be — and  one  could  wish  it  might  be  true — we  are  on  undisputed  ground  in 
giving  1822  as  the  date  when  the  evangelists  from  Norwich  took  their  stand  on  the 
Hog  Hill,  with  their  backs  to  the  Fisherman's  Hospital  Avail,  and  proclaimed  the  gospel. 
J.  Brame,  a  travelling  preacher,  and  Mr.  J.  Turnpenny  are  said  to  have  been  the  names 
of  the  missionaries.  Periodical  visits  continued  to  be  paid  by  the  preachers  from 
Norwich,  and  on  February  14th,  1823,  a  preaching  licence  was  obtained  for  a  house 
in  Row  60.  In  1824,  Yarmouth  was  made  a  circuit,  and  it  appears  as  the  fifth  station 
of  the  newly-formed  Norwich  District  on  the  stations  for  1825. 

Just  as  the  magnificent  Church  of  the  Nativity,  built  by  Helena,  the  mother  of 
Constantine,  has  deep  down  at  its  heart  the  rocky  stable  where  Christ  was  born,  linking 
together  on  the  same  spot  the  present  and  the  past  in  striking  contrast,  so  the  Temple, 
the  chief  edifice  of  Yarmouth  Primitive  Methodism,  stands  on  the  identical  site  of  the 
hay-loft  which,  in  1829,  was  the  society's  humble  sanctuary.  The  Temple  epitomises 
the  history  of  our  Church  in  the  town,  alike  in  its  continuity  and  the  striking  contrast 
it  presents  to  the  first  and  successive  buildings  it  has  superseded.  First  there  stood 
here  the  hay-loft  already  mentioned.  It  was  the  upper  storey  of  a  building  which  had 
once  done  duty  as  a  joiner's  shop.  Its  roof  was  pantiled,  its  once  unglazed  apertures 
were  now  filled  in  with  small-paned  leaded  windows,  and  it  was  furnished  with  stiff 
rail-backed  seats.  In  front  of  the  loft  was  an  open  space,  flanked  by  a  saw-pit  on  one 
side  and  by  stables  on  the  other.  This  open  space  was  reached  by  a  path  some  ten 
feet  wide,  having  some  tumble-down,  disreputable  town-houses  on  either  hand.  For 
these  domiciles  the  occupants  paid  no  rent :  they  were  mere  squatters — unthrifty,  idle, 
depraved ;  so  that  intending  worshippers  had  to  make  their  way 
to  the  hay-loft  through  filthy  and  repulsive  surroundings,  and  run 
the  gauntlet  of  ribald  jests  or  maledictions.  Yet  this  unsavoury 
spot  had  a  history  going  far  back ;  for  the  hay-loft  rested  partly 
on,  and  partly  over,  a  portion  of  the  old  town-wall,  and  it  stood 
on  the  Priory  Plain,  afore-time  covered  by  a  religious  house. 
So  here,  at  Yarmouth,  as  at  Lynn  and  Scarborough,  Primitive 
Methodism  put  its  sanctuary  down  on  the  very  spot  where,  in 
Medieval  times,  monks  abode,  where  they  paced  to  and  fro  in  the 
cloisters  and  chanted  in  the  choir,  until  they  sank  into  sloth 
and  vice,  and  King  Henry,  as  the  besom  of  the  Lord,  swept 

>i.\.\I  I    i'.l.    Al  I  r.lil.  i  . 

them  all  away. 

Stage  No.  2  was  reached  when  "the  diligent  and  judicious  Samuel  Atterby  "  turned 
the  unpolished  building  into  a  galleried  chapel.  It  was  in  1827  that  this  first  Tabernacle 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


229 


was  reared,  and  it  lasted  until  1850.  Then,  as  John  Smith,  the  superintendent,  was  in 
declining  health  and  Hearing  the  verge,  Thomas  Swindell  indefatigably  laboured  at  the 
scheme  of  enlargement.  This  was  done  for  both  chapel  and  school  at  a  cost  of  £750. 
In  connection  with  the  opening  of  this  second  Tabernacle,  a  truly 
monster  tea-meeting  was  held  that  is  talked  of  to  this  day. 
Seven  marquees  were  joined  to  form  one  tent,  pitched  in  front 
of  the  Children's  Hospital,  and  here  eleven  hundred  people  sat 
down  at  the  tables.  By  the  erection  of  "the  Temple"  in  1876 
the  crowning  stage  was  surely  reached;  but,  lest  it  should  be 
thought  that  pride  had  anything  to  do  with  the  bestowment 
of  the  name,  its  genesis  had  better  be  recorded.  When  it  was 
suggested  that  the  proposed  building  should  be  called  a  "  Church," 
a  veteran  local  preacher  exclaimed  :  "  Church  ?  You'd  better  call 
THOMAS  SWINDELL.  jt  a  Temple  straight  away "  j  and  Temple  it  was  called.  The 
only  untoward  event  that  marred  the  success  of  the  Temple,  was  an  accident  that 


YARMOUTH   FIRST  TEMPLE.       . 

occurred  Avhile  it  was  in  course  of   erection.     By  the  fall  of   coping-stones  a  young 

workman  almost  immediately  lost  his  life,  and  Mr.  T.  Kirk,  a  trustee 

deeply  interested  in  the  progress  of  the  building,  received  such 

hurt  as  resulted  in  his  death.     Mercifully,  Mr.  T.  W.  Swindell, 

who  was  with  him  at  the  time,  escaped  without  injury.     As  the 

Rev.  T.  Swindell  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  building  of  the 

second  Tabernacle,  so  his  son,  just  named,  the  Steward  of  the 

Circuit,   by  his  zeal,   financial   skill,   and    fertility  of   resource, 

greatly  contributed  to  bring  this  larger  enterprise  to  a  successful 

issue. 

Yarmouth  has  a  good  record   for  its    Sunday   School  work. 
Very  early  a  Sunday  School  was  established,  at  which  writing 

J  .  T.    W.    SWINDELL. 

as  well  as   reading  was   taught.      It  was   located   first   in  the 

Garden  Row,  subsequently  in  the  two  other  rooms  shown  in  our  pictures,  and  then 


230 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


it  was  removed  in  turn  to  the  old  and  to  the  new  school-rooms.  The  weekly  marching 
of  the  children— at  one  time  numhering  five  hundred— through  the  streets  to  the 
chapel,  stirred  up  the  church  people  of  the  town  to  establish  a  school  for  them- 
selves. Messrs.  R.  Todd,  J.  F.  Neave,  Robert  Bell,  \V.  Patterson,  and  W.  Buddery 
have  successively  laboured  through  the  years  as  superintendents  or  Bible-class  teachers, 
in  connection  with  the  school.  Of  these  and  others,  interesting  reminiscences  are  given 
by  Mr.  Arthur  Patterson  in  his  monograph  on  Yarmouth  Primitive  Methodism,  to 
which  we  express  large  indebtedness.*  Mr.  Patterson,  as  an  old  scholar  and  infant 
class  teacher  and  "lightning  sketcher,"  has  found  a  congenial  task  ;  nor  would  any  history 
of  Yarmouth  Primitive  Methodism  be  complete  which  should  contain  no  reference  to 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST  TEMPLE,    YARMOUTH. 

what  Mr.  Patterson  has  achieved  in  other  directions.  By  his  contributions  to  our 
Connexional  literature,  and  by  his  recent  works  on  Natural  History,  recording  the 
results  of  "years  of  careful  observation,  he  has  obtained  a  more  than  local  reputation, 
while  the  story  of  his  life  of  self-help  and  devotion  to  natural  science  is  worthy  to  be 
placed  side  by  side  with  the  lives  of  Edward,  or  Dick  of  Thurso. 

Previous  to  the  building  of  the  Temple,  extensions  in  the  borough  had  taken  place  by 
the  erection,  at  the  South  End,  of  Queen  Street  Chapel  (1867).  Mr.  George  Baker,  J.P., 
materially  assisted  in  this  extension,  and  afterwards  received  the  thanks  of  Conference 
for  his  gift  to  the  chapel  of  an  organ  costing  £130. 

*  "From  Hayloft  to  Temple :  the  Story  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Yarmouth."  1903.  London, 
R.  Brvant. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


231 


ENTRANCE  TO   SCHOOLROOM,    YARMOUTH. 
Now  a  Tramps'  Lodging-house. 


So  far  as  persecution  by  the  populace  is  con- 
cerned, Yarmouth  can  show  a  clean  sheet.  In 
the  early  days,  the  singing  of  the  old  hymns 
seems  to  have  operated  like  a  charm  in  mollify- 
ing the  passions  of  those  whom  it  drew  to  the 
open-air  services.  Once  and  again  the  authorities 
have  backslidden  into  intolerance,  and  their 
attempts  to  put  down  preaching  in  the  open 
spaces  of  the  town  have  had  to  be  resisted. 
The  worst  case  occurred  in  1854,  when  several 
persons  were  arrested  for  holding  a  service  at 
the  Hall  Quay.  At  the  trial  which  ensued, 
the  accused  were  ably  defended  by  Mr.  Tillett 
of  Norwich,  a  staunch  Nonconformist.  The 
magistrates  found  themselves  in  a  cleft  stick 
and,  in  the  end,  the  case  was  dismissed.  At  a 
later  period  the  authorities  had  another  relapse, 
but  the  Rev.  John  Smith  (2)  at  once  took  steps 
to  vindicate  the  right  to  hold  services  at  the 
Jetty.  It  is  but  due  to  say  that,  in  1888,  the 

Salvation  Army  were  much  more  roughly  handled  at  Yarmouth  than  our  fathers  had 

ever  been,  and  the  magistrates  incurred  considerable  odium  by  instituting  proceedings 

against  them — a  course  which,  in  the  end,  produced  a  strong  reaction  in  their  favour. 
By     successive     partitions,    Yarmouth     has 

become   five   circuits   at   least.     As    early   as 

1823,    Wangford,    twenty    miles    away,    and 

Beccles    fifteen,    were    within    its    area,    and 

regularly    supplied    with    preachers.       When, 

in    1833,  the   Wangford  Branch  was  made  a 

circuit,  with  Richard  Howchin  as  its  superin- 
tendent, it  reported  233  members.    Extensive 

missionary  operations  were  at  once  begun  in 

the  surrounding  villages.     More  than  a  score 

of  these  were  visited,  and  many  of  them  were 

morally  transformed.     The  result  was  seen  in 

the  report  of  540  members  given  to  the  Con- 
ference of    1835.      Wangford  has   been,  and 

still  is  a  strong  country  station,  and  from  the 

beginning  has  always  had  in  it  a  number  of 

loyal  adherents  of  the  Connexion. 

Lowestoft  was  an  integral  part  of  Yarmouth 

Circuit  until    1870,   and  Acle   and   Martham 

until  1883.     Alderman  Adam  Adams  was  called 

into  the  ministry  by  Yarmouth  Circuit,  and  stationed  there  1852-4;  but  his  health 


ST.    JOHN  S   HEAD   ROW,    YARMOUTH. 
Our  old  Schoolroom  on  the  right. 


232 


PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 


failing  him  he  became  a  successful  man  of  business,  and  has  long  been  one  of 
Lowestoft's  prominent  and  public-spirited  citizens.  He  has  been  its  Mayor,  a  candidate 
for  Parliamentary  honours,  and  he  is  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
But,  it  is  safe  to  say,  he  attaches  more  importance  to  the 
position  he  holds  as  a  hard-working  local  preacher  and  active 
official.  He  hag  few  vacant  Sundays;  his  time  being  equally 
divided  between  his  own  circuit  and  lending  assistance  to 
neighbouring  ones.  His  Connexional  recognition  came  in  1 900 
when  he  was  appointed  Vice-President  of  Conference,  and  as 
such  his  portrait  will  be  found  hereafter  in  its  due  order. 

We  must  refer  our  readers  to  Mr.  Patterson's  book  for 
interesting  reminiscences  of  some  of  the  veteran  local  preachers 
of  the  Yarmouth  Circuit — men  like  John  Bitton.  who  was  on 

A.    PATTERSON. 

the  plan  of  1824,  and  preached  when  he  was  eighty-four,  dying 
at  last,  in  1886,  at  ninety- three  years  of  age;  William  Perry,  forty-six  years  a  local 


YARMOUTH   HALL  QUAY. 

preacher ;  George  Bell,  who  gave  thirty-seven  years  of  his  life  to  the  same  work,  and 
two  sons  to  the  ministry ;  John  Mason,  a  local  preacher  for 
over  thirty-six  years ;  and   Henry  Futter,  still  spared   to  the 
Church  he  has  served  so  long. 

Mr.  Patterson  also  gives  the  names  of  some  twenty  ministers 
whom  the  Yarmouth  Circuit  has  sent  forth.  The  list  includes 
the  names  of  J.  G.  Smith,  the  son  of  John  Smith  (1) ;  of 
George  and  Benjamin  Bell ;  G.  Rudram  and  F.  B.  Paston.  But 
of  all  who  in  the  early  days  were  closely  associated  with 
Yarmouth,  none  left  so  deep  and  lasting  an  impression  on  the 
District,  of  which  they  were  largely  the  makers  and  fashioners, 
as  did  John  Smith  (1)  and  Robert  Key.  It  was  at  Yarmouth 
the  former  closed  at  once  his  ministry  of  twenty-seven  years  RICHARD  HOWCHIN. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


233 


and  his  life.  It  was  at  Yarmouth,  too,  Robert  Key  began  his  Christian  course.  The 
presence  at  the  services  of  the  rough  coal-heaver  occasioned  surprise  not  unmixed 
with  fear ;  for  it  was  hard  to  think  anything  but  a  mischievous  intent  had  brought 
him  there.  Like  Clowes  he  was  a  branch,  but  rougher  and  more  unpromising,  of 
the  "olive  tree  which  is  wild  by  nature;"  but  he  was  "grafted  in" — "brought  in" 
our  fathers  termed  it — and  the  process  was  finished  on  Easter  Sunday,  1823,  and 
very  soon  the  new  nature  began  to  show  itself  in  the  overcoming  of  the  defects 
of  a  meagre  education  and  of  a  strong  but  undisciplined  character.  By  1825  or  1826 
he  had  become  a  local  preacher,  when  local  preachers  were  few  and  their  journeys  long 
and  frequent.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Anthony  Race  of  Weardale,  who  died  at 
Yarmouth  in  1828,  was  of  great  assistance  to  Robert  Key  by  his  powerful  preaching 
of  the  doctrine  of  entire  sanctification,  and  still  more  by  the  exemplification  of  the 
doctrine  in  his  own  life.  The  influence  exerted  upon  him  by  this  apostolic  man  was  so 
great  that,  we  are  told,  "  no  wear  or  tear  of  years  or  circumstances  was  ever  able  to 
efface  it."  In  1828,  Robert  Key  received  his  call  to  the  ministry. 

It  is  but  natural  we  should  desire  to  know  something  more  than  can  be  derived  from 


JOHN    BITTON. 


WILLIAM   PERRY. 


GEORGE    BELL. 


JOHN    MASON. 


tradition,  however  trustworthy,  of  these  men  to  whom  Primitive  Methodism  in  the 
Eastern  Counties  owed  so  much  in  the  early  days.  Fortunately,  we  have  a  sketch  of 
these  two  pioneers  by  a  contemporary  and  competent  hand.  Mr.  G.  T.  Goodrick,  who 
had  himself  been  a  travelling  preacher  for  three  years,  retired  in  1835  to  Yarmouth, 
where  he  became  a  leading  official.  He  became  well  known  to  the  Connexional 
authorities,  and  their  confidence  in  him  is  seen  in  his  appointment  as  one  of  the 
Connexional  Auditors.  Mr.  Goodrick  left  behind  him  a  "  Life  "  of  Robert  Key,  which 
has  never  been  published.  From  this  valuable  work  we  take  the  following  discriminating 
characterisation  of  John  Smith  (1)  and  Robert  Key  : — 

"John  Smith— a  man  of  God  ;  of  all  we  have  met,  we  think  we  never  did  find 
a  man  so  much  under  the  influence  of  '  this  travailing  for  souls.'  He  was  not  a 
great  preacher.  He  had  no  acquired  powers  of  oratory.  His  pulpit  efforts  were 
generally  disjointed  in  arrangement ;  and,  as  a  man  seeking  popularity  by  such 
methods,  he  would  certainly  have  failed.  But  no  hearer  could  doubt  his  sincerity, 
nor  fail  to  perceive,  if  he  had  spiritual  perception  at  all,  that  the  preacher  felt  for 
souls.  Indeed,  he  was  a  man  of  two  ideas — personal  holiness  and  the  conversion 
of  sinners.  These  were,  one  or  the  other,  generally  both,  the  burden  of  his 


234 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


sermons,  and  the  topics  of  his  conversation.  And  so  constantly  and  so  surely 
did  he  think  of  men  as  sinners,  and  the  necessity  of  their  salvation,  that  it  some- 
times absorbed  all  other  considerations  of  time  and  place,  and  made  him  silent 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  congenial  society.  At  other  times  he  would  literally 
groan  as  if  under  a  burden,  and  would  express  himself  as  if  he  could  not  live 
unless  souls  were  saved.  This,  to  some,  seemed  to  savour  of  rudeness,  indecorum, 
and  even  of  a  pharisaical  spirit.  But  what  prayers  !  what  power  !  what  influence 
attended  his  words  !  We  have  heard  him  pray  until  the  place  was  as  if  shaken. 
He  was  as  a  prince  with  God,  for  wrestling  he  overcame,  and  streams  of  mercy 
flowed  among  the  assembly.  We  have  known  him  lay  his  hand  upon  persons  and 
bring  them  to  their  knees  without  uttering  a  word  ;  and  a  whole  congregation, 
as  it  were,  gasp  for  breath  while  listening  to  his  impassioned  and  inspired  appeals, 
in  which  he  was  sometimes  lost  for  language,  and  coming  to  a  sudden  stop  would 
electrify  his  hearers  by  a  single  word  or  shout  of  'Glory  !' — a  shout  that  was,  as 
a  simple  countrj'man  expressed  it,  'Worth  some  men's  whole  sermons.'  His  soul 
burned  within  him  to  save  the  souls  of  others,  and,  as  in  other  instances,  burned 
too  fast  for  endurance  ;  and  after  a  brilliant  career  of  success  in  some  circuits 
in  the  Norwich  District,  entered  into  rest,  December  7th,  1851,  at  the  early  age 
of  fifty-one. 

"  Between  these  two  men,  Brothers  Key  and  Smith,  there  was  a  great  similarity 
of  feeling,  thought,  and  experience,  and  if  need  be,  we  might  almost  substitute 
one  mental  picture  for  another  ;  only  Mr.  Key  was  of  a  livelier  disposition,  a  warmer 
temperament,  had  greater  mental  resources,  and  a  greater  aptitude  for  the  business 
and  arrangements  incident  to  the  establishment  of  a  church  or  society.  He  was 
thus  better  qualified  as  a  missionary,  while  his  good  brother  Smith  found  a  field 
for  labour  in  the  already  enclosed  portions  of  his  Master's  vineyard.  Both  toiled 
and  wept  and  prayed,  'travailing  for  souls,'  and  now  both  'rest  from  their  labours 
and  their  works  do  follow  them.'" 


PRIMITIVE  METHODISM  AND  THE  AGRICULTURAL  VILLAGES  OF  EAST  ANGLIA. 

The  work  done  in  East  Anglia  between  1825  and  1842  was  remarkable,  even  on  the 
imperfect  showing  of  statistics.  Here  are  the  figures  for  the  two  years  set  out  side  by 
side,  making  comparison  easy  and  leading  to  an  obvious  inference. 


1825. 

1842. 

Circuits 

6 

Circuits 

-       19 

Ministers 

-       13 

Ministers 

-       59 

Members 

-  1546 

Members 

-  9072 

And  yet  the  figures  furnish  but  imperfect  evidence.  From  the  very  nature  of  the  case 
a  very  large  percentage  of  the  direct,  no  less  than  the  indirect,  results  accomplished, 
must  have  fallen  to  the  share  of  Churches  which  seemed  to  have  a  strong  hereditary 
claim  and  had  more  to  offer.  Often  enough  they  carried  off  the  full  stook  to  their 
well-filled  granary,  and  left  us  only  the  gleanings  of  our  own  harvest.  The  words  of 
Christ  were  reversed :  We  laboured,  and  others  entered  into  our  labours.  Especially 
was  this  the  case  in  Suffolk  and  Essex,  where  the  Congregational  and  Baptist  Churches 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


235 


have  deeply  rooted  themselves.  At  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  for  example,  Mr.  Petty  tells 
of  a  Nonconformist  minister  who  stated  that  he  had  admitted  eighty  persons  to 
church-membership,  who  attributed  their  enlightenment  to  the  open-air  preaching  of  the 
Primitive  Methodists.  This  is  not  written  by  way  of  complaint,  but  simply  to  show 
that,  in  any  estimate  of  the  good  effected  by  our  Church  in  the  Eastern  Counties  during 
this  time,  account  must  also  be  taken  of  the  extent  to  which  other  Churches  were 
augmented  and  quickened  by  our  labours. 

But  as  to  these  figures  themselves  :  they  represent  a  most  active  and  persistent  village 
evangelisation.  Some  idea  of  the  network  reticulations  of  this  evangelisation  may  be 
gained  by  an  inspection  of  the  circuit  plans  of  the  time.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the 
plan  of  North  Walsham  Circuit,  in  the  north-eastern  corner  of  Norfolk,  for  the  year 
1835.  And  what  a  plan  it  is!  as  large  as  a  page  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  World, 
having  on  it  the  names  of  sixty-one  villages  and  sixty-nine  preachers  and  exhorters. 

And  here  is  the  plan  of  the 
Mattishall,  now  East  Dereham 
Circuit  and  Saham  Branch,  not 
much  smaller  than  that  of  North 
Walsham,  showing  fifty-two  vil- 
lages and  forty-five  preachers. 
When  we  get  to  know  how  the 
Mattishall  Circuit  was  carved  out 
of  Mid-Norfolk  by  Eobert  Key, 
this  plan  becomes  a  most  signifi- 
cant broadsheet.  The  story  of 
the  making  of  this  circuit  is  an 
interesting  chapter  in  Norfolk 
village  evangelisation — a  chapter 
which  rightly  begins  by  showing 
us  the  antecedents  of  these  half- 
hundred  villages  in  the  heart  of  Norfolk ;  what  was  their  moral  and  religious  condition 
before  Robert  Key  set  foot  in  them  and  went  on  circuit.  Had  we  a  map  of  the 
England  of  that  time — a  map  showing,  by  its  gradations  of  light  and  shade,  how  near 
any  district  approached  to  the  recognised  standard  of  good  morals  and  religion,  or 
how  far  it  fell  short  of  such  standard,  then  we  should  find  these  parts  around  East 
Dereham  deeply  shaded,  while  some  of  the  villages  thereabouts,  would  stand  out  on 
the  map  like  dark  islets. 

In  justification  of  what  is  here  written  we  would  adduce  the  testimony  of 
Canon  Jessopp,  the  genial  archaeologist,  historian,  and  broad-minded  political  economist. 
No  man  knows  the  history  of  his  own  county,  or  the  past  and  present  condition  of  the 
peasantry  of  Norfolk,  better  than  he.  In  1879,  he  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of 
Seaming,  near  East  Dereham,  and  in  his  "The  Arcady  of  our  Grandfathers,"  he  has 
put  down  what,  by  skilful  questioning  of  the  oldest  inhabitants,  he  could  gather  con- 
cerning the  former  manner  of  life  of  the  labourers  and  smaller  farmers  of  Seaming  and 
the  neighbouring  parishes.  Arcady,  indeed !  It  is  no  picture  of  Arcadian  innocence 


CHURCH    OF    KAST    I IKKKH  AM. 
Where  Cowper  was  buried. 


236  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHUHCH. 

we  get  from  these  combined  narratives,  but  ratber  one  of  more  than  Boeotian  rudeness. 
There  were,  perhaps,  fewer  public-houses  eighty  years  ago  than  now,  and  the  drinking 
of  ardent  spirits  was  little  known  then,  though  there  was  much  beery  drunkenness. 
There  was  a  strain  of  cruelty  running  through  social  life.  Masters  beat  the  boys  in 
their  employ,  and  not  infrequently  their  serving-men ;  wife-beating  was  so  common 
as  to  attract  little  notice.  Cock-fighting  was  the  popular  sport;  football  matches 
were  played  on  the  Sunday.  Profanity  and  dissoluteness  were  crying  evils,  while 
a  good  part  of  the  little  religion  there  was,  ran  into  superstition  or  gross  formalism. 
At  the  annual  fair-time  men  indulged  in  a  surfeit  of  wickedness  and  pleasure,  as  though 
they  would  make  up  by  a  debauch  for  the  enforced  abstinence  of  the  working  year. 
Crime,  too,  was  rife:  "During  the  nine  years  ending  in  1808,  there  were  actually 
committed  to  the  four  prisons  at  Wymondham,  Aylsham,  Walsingham,  and  Norwich 
Castle,  the  enormous  aggregate  of  2336  men  and  women,  to  whom  we  may  be  sure 
little  mercy  was  shown."  * 

Testimony,  corroborative  of  that  given  by  Canon  Jessopp,  is  also  furnished  by 
Mr.  G.  T.  Goodrick,  already  named,  who  was  one  of  the  ministers  of  Lynn  Circuit  in 
1832,  and  residing  at  Swaffham  when  Robert  Key  was  prosecuting  his  East  Dereham 
mission.  He  writes  as  one  who  had  been  on  the  ground  and  had  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  people.  The  quotation  from  him  here  given  has  a  value  beyond  its 
special  local  reference,  as  it  fairly  and  fully  presents  the  claim  of  our  Church  to 
have  fastened  on  the  agricultural  villages  of  our  land  wheu  others  passed  them  by. 
He  probably  had  the  villages  of  East  Anglia  specially  in  his  mind,  but  his  words 
are  equally  true  of  other  parts  of  rural  England  in  the  'Twenties  and  'Thirties.  After 
claiming  that  the  Church  to  which  Robert  Key  was  attached  had  laboured  much, 
and  contributed  no  little,  to  spread  the  leaven  of  righteousness  and  thereby  exalt  the 
nation,  he  continues: — 

"  Wesleyanism  with  its  peculiar  organisation  had  won, — and  deservedly  won,  her 
laurels,  and  could  boast  of  spoils  taken  from  the  hand  of  the  mighty,  and  these, 
too,  from  among  the  villages  and  cottages  of  many  a  tract  of  English  soil,  where 
the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell  was  seldom  heard,  or  if  it  were  heard,  it 
spoke  in  vain.  But  it  will  not  be  denied  that  Wesleyanism  had  not  done  all  that 
was  needed,  or  all  that  she  could  have  done ;  and  if  the  Wesleyans  turned  their 
strength  to  the  evangelisation  of  large  towns — so  be  it ;  they  thought  it  best, 
and  God  is  with  them.  But  there  was  a  class  to  reach,  'a  region  beyond,'  which 
they  had  not  penetrated  ;  a  people  to  whom  religion  was  unknown  except  by 
name,  whose  morals  were  loose,  and  their  habits  vicious ;  a  class  from  which  the 
ranks  of  the  poacher,  the  farm-robber,  and  the  stack-burner  were  ever  and  anon 
recruited.  The  character  of  the  labouring  class  in  the  agricultural  counties  was 
fearfully  deteriorated  ;  it  had  become  almost  brutish.  Cock-fighting,  dog-fighting, 
and  man-fighting  were  cruel  sports  freely  indulged  in  ;  the  cricket  club  and  foot- 
ball had  their  field-day  on  the  Sabbath,  and  a  drunken  orgie  at  a  fair  was  planned 
and  provided  for  out  of  hard-earned  wages  weeks  before  its  appointed  day.  Much 
has  been  said  of  the  sins  of  the  city,  but  if  we  were  to  care  to  draw  the  veil  from 
country-town  and  village-life  of  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago,t  the  seeming  disparity 

*  "  Arcady  :  For  Better  or  Worse."    6th  Edition,  p.  50. 

1 1  have  altered  the  figure  to  allow  for  the  efflux  of  time  since  these  words  were  written. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIKCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  237 

between  the  moral  life  of  city  and  country  would  vanish,  or  rather  the  sins  of  the 
former  would  be  eclipsed  by  the  deeper  darkness  of  the  latter.  But  God  knew  it 
all  !  and,  if  we  may  not  claim  a  plenary  inspiration  for  the  earlier  missionaries 
of  the  Connexion,  who  will  dare  deny  that  the  '  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  was  upon 
them,  anointing  them  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor']  This  was,  indeed,  mission 
work — a  mission  to  the  heathen  in  all  but  in  name,  and  to  this  work  Brother  Key 
addressed  himself  in  all  the  vigour  of  manhood,  faith  in  the  divinity  of  his  mission, 
and  constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ  to  seek  the  souls  of  men."— (MS.  "  Life  of 
Robert  Key,"  pp.  49,  50.) 

As  the  Mid-Norfolk  of  1830  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  Norfolk  village-mission-field — 
though  it  must  be  confessed  the  type  is  very  pronounced  and  at  its  highest  power — so 
Robert  Key  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  the  East  Anglian  pioneer  missionary.  If  we 
had  written  "the  ideal  East  Anglian  missionary,"  we  should  not  have  been  far  wrong. 
Robert  Key  began  his  ministry  in  North  Walsham  Circuit  in  1828,  and  thence  was 
sent  to  open  his  mission  in  central  Norfolk.  The  task  that  lay  before  him  was  such 
as  would  have  tested  the  physical  stamina  of  the  strongest,  the  courage  of  the  boldest, 
the  resourcefulness  of  the  most  experienced.  He  had  no  one  "  to  hold  the  rope." 
He  had  to  make  his  own  way,  like  a  movable  column  in  the 
enemy's  territory,  with  no  base  to  lean  upon.  He  preached  in  the 
open-air  or  in  houses  that  might  be  offered  him,  and  suffering  as  well 
as  labour  was  his  lot.  Instead  of  being  welcomed  and  encouraged 
as  a  herald  of  the  gospel,  he  was  by  many  treated  as  a  pestilent 
fellow  to  be  got  rid  of  at  all  costs.  Certain  places  in  the  district 
made  themselves  specially  notorious  by  the  bitterness  of  their 
opposition.  "  Shipdham,  Watton,  and  East  Dereham,"  says  Mr.  Key, 
"  might  have  been  matched  against  any  other  three  places  of  similar 
size  for  brutal  violence  and  inveterate  hatred  of  the  truth. 
ROBERT  KEY.  Of  the  three  places  I  think  Shipdham  was  the  worst."  At 

Watton,  some  years  before,  a  Wesleyan  minister  had  attempted 

to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  open  air,  but  he  was  shamefully  treated,  and  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  Here,  on  August  16th,  1832,  Mr.  Key  took  his  stand  in 
the  Market-place.  It  was  soon  pretty  evident  that  mischief  was  abroad.  A  number 
of  men  who  had  been  primed  with  drink  by  some  of  the  "  respectables  "  of  the  town, 
gathered  round,  and  first  tried  to  drown  the  preacher's  voice  by  clamour  and  by  percussion. 
Then,  a  rush  was  made ;  the  preacher  was  knocked,  down,  trampled  upon  and  kicked. 
He  struggled  to  his  feet  and  got  on  his  chair  again — still  preaching.  Another  rush — 
with  the  result  that  Key  was  tossed  backward  and  forward  like  a  football.  Then 
missiles  began  to  fly,  and  it  looked  as  though  the  unprovoked  riot  would  end  in  murder 
when,  suddenly,  deliverance  came  and  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  Some  of  the 
ringleaders,  though  still  under  the  influence  of  drink,  were  seized  with  compunction, 
and  changed  sides.  They  rallied  round  the  breathless  and  battered  preacher,  planted 
themselves  round  him  as  a  body-guard,  and  got  him  away  with  difficulty,  shouting : 
"You  are  right  and  AVC  are  wrong,  and  no  man  shall  hurt  you!"  This  unlooked-for 
development  was,  we  are  told,  a  disappointment  to  the  "respectable"  men  who  had 


238  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

instigated  the  disturbance,  one  of  whom  was  the  person  entrusted  by  a  paternal  state 
with  the  cure  of  souls. 

As  for  Shipdham,  Mr.  Goodrick  fully  bears  out  what  Mr.  Key  has  said  of  it.  "  It 
made  itself  infamous  by  its  long  course  of  bitterest  opposition  to  the  preachers,  and  no 
wonder;  for,  if  Satan  had  a  seat  upon  earth  it  was  there,"  and  more,  and  stronger 
words  he  writes,  which  we  need  not  give.  We  will  also  pass  over  the  details  of  the 
annoyances  to  which  the  preacher  and  his  little  flock  were  so  long  exposed,  since  these 
had  not  even  the  small  merit  of  originality.  One  little  fact,  however,  we  chronicle 
here,  partly  to  show  what  spirit  the  people  were  of,  and  partly  to  embalm  the  memory 
of  a  poor  widow,  "  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy." 
A  poor  Frenchwoman  of  Shipdham  became  a  special  object  of  persecution.  Upon  her 
was  heaped  ridicule,  taunts,  and  blows.  She  was  driven  from  one  lodging  to  another 
and,  had  it  been  possible,  some  would  have  denied  her  even  a  pauper's  bread ;  and  all 
because  she  dared  to  become,  and  declared  herself  to  be,  "  a  thorough  Primitive." 

Though  Robert  Key  had  many  marvellous  escapes  from  bodily  injury,  he  did  not 
bear  a  charmed  life.  Once  at  Reepham,  for  example,  he  was  hit  with  a  stone  thrown 
by  the  hand  of  the  zealous  parish  clerk,  and  bled  profusely.  "  But  why,"  it  will  be 
asked  "  were  not  such  miscreants  brought  to  justice  ? "  "We  answer  :  once,  and  once 
only,  was  a  summons  taken  out  against  persecutors,  and  why  the  experiment  was  not 
repeated  the  sequel  will  show.  It  was  at  this  same  Reepham,  Key  was  followed  by 
another  preacher  who,  borrowing  a  chair,  began  a  service;  but  he  was  pulled  down,  and 
by  clamour  and  violence  compelled  to  desist.  The  attack  was  so  outrageous  that,  in 
order  to  avoid  worse  consequences  from  the  rough  and  ready  action  of  the  justifiably 
incensed  populace,  Mr.  Key  reluctantly  consented  to  seek  legal  redress.  The  result 
shall  be  stated  by  Mr.  Goodrick  : — 

"To  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  the  magistrates,  the  chicanery  of  the  legal 
adviser,  and  the  subterfuges  of  the  law  itself  were  so  well  used  that,  although 
everybody  else  saw  through  the  whole  thing,  justice  was  blind,  and  her  constituted 
ministers  dismissed  the  case  !  and,  by  way  of  administering  some  soothing  palliative 
to  the  outraged  feelings  of  the  influential  and  respectable  blackguards  of  Reepham, 
condescended  to  stoop  so  low  as  to  pour  a  tirade  of  abuse  upon  Mr.  Key,  which 
for  virulence  of  language  might  have  been  borrowed  from  Billingsgate.  Such  has 
often  been  the  result  of  an  appeal  to  the  law  for  protection,  especially  when 
the  clerical  magistrate  occupies  the  bench  and  derogates  from  his  character  as 
a  minister  of  the  gospel  by  professing  to  administer  criminal  law." — (MS.  "Life 
of  Robert  Key,"  p.  76). 

The  language  is  vigorous,  but  not  one  whit  more  so  than  that  employed  by  John  Foster 
who,  in  speaking  of.  these  attacks  on  the  inoffensive  preachers  of  the  gospel,  once  so 
common,  says :  "  These  savage  tumults  were  generally  instigated  or  abetted,  sometimes 
under  a  little  concealment,  but  often  avowedly,  by  persons  of  higher  condition,  and 
even  by  those  consecrated  to  the  office  of  religious  instruction ;  and  this  advantage  of 
their  station  was  lent  to  defend  the  perpetrators  against  shame,  or  remorse,  or  just 
punishment,  for  the  outrage."*  No  wonder  that,  after  his  first  experience  of  Justices' 

*  "  Evils  of  Popular  Ignorance,"  pp.  75-6. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


239 


REV.  KOBKRT    EAGLEN 


justice,  Robert  Key  should  say  :  "  Never  more  !     Come  what  may  I  will  suffer  it  and 
leave  my  cause  with  God." 

The  outer  conflicts  Robert  Key  had  to  wage  during  his  Mattishall  Mission,  had  their 
reflection  and  counterpart  in  the  inner  conflicts  which  formed  so 
remarkable  a  feature  of  his  experience  at  this  time.  As  we  read  of 
these  we  are  reminded  of  the  views  held  by  J.  Crawfoot,  H.  Bourne, 
and  others  of  the  fathers  as  to  the  nature  of  spiritual  conflicts. 
They  would  have  said,  in  explanation,  that  such  conflicts  were  to 
be  expected ;  that  he  was  taking  upon  him  the  burden  of  souls ; 
that  there  was  "  a  conflict  of  atmospheres."  Sometimes  a  darkness 
which  might  be  felt  would  come  upon  him,  and  a  feeling  of 
hardness,  and  he  had  to  hold  on  grimly  by  naked  faith,  and 
wrestle  until  the  day  broke,  and  his  heart  softened  again  as  with 
the  dew  of  the  morning.  So  it  was  on  his  first  visit  to  Saham 
Toney  on  June  10th,  1832.  While  he  was  preaching  in  the 
open-air  the  heavens  became  suddenly  overcast,  and  the  rain  came  down  in  torrents. 
His  appeal  for  a  house  or  place  of  shelter  in  which  to  finish  the  service,  was  met 
by  the  offer  of  a  house — formerly  a  workhouse — capable  of  holding  two  hundred 
people.  Many  followed  him  there,  but  for  the  first  twenty  minutes  "all  appeared 
hard  and  dark,  and  nothing  moved."  Then  the  cloud  passed,  and  men  and  women 
began  to  fall  to  the  ground,  while  others  hurried  away  as  if  the  house  were  on  fire,  in 
impenitent  terror  and  defiance.  "Did  his  spiritual  foes,"  asks  Mr.  Goodrick,  "on 

leaving  Mr.  Key,  attack  his  hearers, 
to  drive  them  from  the  place  ? "  It 
was  an  eventful  service.  In  the  fiery 
trial  of  that  night  was  forged  a  link 
in  the  providential  chain  of  events 
which  led  to  the  conversion  of 
C.  H.  Spurgeon ;  for,  amongst  those 
who  were  won  that  night,  was  Mary 
Eaglen,  whose  changed  and  Christly 
life  so  impressed  her  brother  that  it 
was  one  of  the  main  factors  in  his 
conversion,  which  took  place  soon 
after.  Mr.  Eaglen  spent  two  of 
the  thirty-six  years  of  his  active 
ministry  in  Ipswich  Circuit,  of 
which  Colchester  was  then  a  branch, 
and  it  was  he  who,  on  a  snowy 
morning  in  the  winter  of  1850, 
directed  the  youth  of  God's  election 
to  look  and  be  saved.  The  pulpit  in  which  Mr.  Eaglen  then  stood  is  preserved  in 
the  Stockwell  Orphanage.  On  October  llth,  1864,  Mr.  Spurgeon  preached  in  the 
old  Colchester  Chapel  (erected  1839)  from  the  text  used  in  his  conversion;  and  it 


COLCHESTER   CHAPEL. 
As  it  was. 


240 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


demonstrations    of    growing 
were    these   camp   meetings 


was  quite  fitting  that  Rev.  W.  Moore  should,  in   1897,  place  a  tablet  in  the  chapel 
commemorative  of  the  event. 

Despite  the  opposition  of  some  unreasonable  and  evil  men  in  East  Anglia  (most  of 
whom  afterwards  got  their  deserts),  "  the  word  of  God  was  not  bound,"  but  rather  had 
"free  course  and  was  glorified."  Some  mighty  camp  meetings  gave  it  impetus  and 
helped  it  forward.  That  such  numbers  of  people  could  be  brought  together  in  districts 
not  thickly  populated,  attested  the  hold  the  new  religious  movement  already  had  got 

on  the  rural  population.  But  not  as 
aggregations  of  people  merely,  or  as 
imposing 
influence, 

mighty.  The  word  belongs  to  them 
rather  because  they  were  generators 
and  distributors  of  spiritual  force ;  they 
were  "  mighty  before  God  to  the  casting 
down  of  strongholds."  Mighty  in  all 
these  senses  was  the  camp  meeting  held 
at  East  Tuddenham  on  June  12th,  1831, 
which  may  therefore  serve  as  type  and 
representative  of  many  another  similar 
gathering  in  various  parts  of  East  Anglia. 
"  It  was  thought  there  were  thousands 
of  people  present "  at  this  Mid-Norfolk 
camp  meeting.  "  This,"  says  Mr.  Key, 
"  was  the  most  powerful  meeting  I  ever 
witnessed.  It  was  thought  that  more 
than  fifty  were  set  at  liberty." 

We  come  across  traces  and  echoes 
of  some  of  these  camp  meetings  in 
our  accepted  literature.  Readers  of 
Lavengro  *  will  recall  the  fine  description 
of  a  Norfolk  camp  meeting  in  that 
fascinating  book.  We  challenge  that 
camp  meeting  for  a  Primitive  Methodist 
one ;  for,  as  surely  as  it  took  place  as 
pictured,  so  surely  would  no  other  denomination  save  our  own  have  owned  it  at  the 
time,  and  it  is  too  late  now  for  any  other  to  prefer  its  claim.  Let  our  readers  turn  to 
this  passage  in  Lavengro.  Our  present  concern  with  it  is  to  adduce  the  testimony 
of  George  Borrow — who  spent  his  later  years  at  Oulton,  near  Lowestoft — as  to  the 
ameliorative  influences  which  camp  meeting  preachers  and  preaching  exerted  upon  the 
rural  parishes  of  East  Anglia  •. — 

"There  stood  the  preacher,  one  of  those  men — and,  thank  God,  their  number  is 
not  few — who,  animated  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  amidst  much  poverty,  arid  alas  ! 

*  Lavengro.     Chapter  xxv. 


THIS  TABLET  WAS  wveiLtD  B> 
Sm  W.D. PEARSON,  BART,  M.P. 
ANHL  !6T*  1897 


SPURGEON  8  TABLET   IN   COLCHESTER   CHAPEL. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    A.ND    ENTERPRISE.  241 

much  contempt,  persist  in  carrying  the  light  of  the  gospel  amidst  the  dark  parishes 
of  what,  but  for  their  instrumentality,  would  scarcely  be  Christian  England." 

Dark  parishes  they  were,  indeed,  in  the  'Thirties,  not  only  in  East  Anglia,  but  in  many 
other  parts  of  rural  England.  While  the  misguided  emissaries  of  "  Capt.  Swing " 
were  burning  down  farmsteads  and  destroying  machinery,  Robert  Key  and  his 
coadjutors  were  amongst  them,  practically  doing  national  police-duty,  and  doing  it 
without  pay  or  recognition,  and  what  is  more,  they  often  accomplished  by  their  village 
evangelism  what  police  patrols  and  magistrates  were  unable  to  effect.  The  biographies 
of  the  time  bear  witness  to  the  wide-spread  alarm  which  these  agrarian  disturbances 
created.  Here,  for  example,  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  childhood  days  of  J.  Ewing  Ritchie, 
spent  at  Wrentham,  in  Suffolk  : — 

"I  can  never  forget  the  feeling  of  terror  with  which,  on  those  dark  and  dull 
winter  nights,  I  looked  out  of  my  bedroom  window  to  watch  the  lurid  light  flaring 
up  into  the  black  clouds  around,  which  told  how  wicked  men  were  at  their  mad 
work,  how  fiendish  passion  had  triumphed,  how  some  honest  farmer  was  reduced 
to  ruin,  as  he  saw  the  efforts  of  a  life  of  industry  consumed  by  the  incendiary's 
fire.  It  was  long  before  I  ceased  to  shudder  at  the  name  of  '  Swing.' "  * 

Robert  Key,  we  repeat,  was  down  amongst  the  rick-burners.  In  one  parish,  the 
miscreants  had  plotted  to  burn  down  all  the  farm-houses  in  the  district,  and  had 
actually  succeeded  in  burning  down  seventeen,  when  their  incendiarism  was  stopped 
by  the  advent  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  missionaries,  bearing  no  other  weapon  than 
the  Gospel.  Said  a  grateful  farmer  to  Robert  Key:  "It  cost  me  two  shillings  a  night 
all  through  the  winter  to  have  my  house  watched,  and  then  we  went  to  bed  full  of 
anxiety  lest  we  should  be  burnt  out  before  morning.  But  you  came  here  and  sang 
and  prayed  about  the  streets — for  you  can  never  get  these  '  varmints '  into  a  church  or 
chapel.  But  your  people  brought  the  red-hot  gospel  to  bear  upon  them  in  the  street, 
and  it  laid  hold  of  their  guilty  hearts,  and  now  these  people  are  good  members  of 
your  Church." 

Great,  indeed,  have  been  the  changes  for  the  better  brought  about  in  those  parts 
of  East  Anglia  we  have  glanced  at,  since  Primitive  Methodism  was  introduced  into 
tuem,  and  in  effecting  those  changes  it  has  had  a  chief  part.  No  longer  is  North-East 
Norfolk  called  New  Siberia  because  of  the  backward  condition  of  its  inhabitants,  as  it 
was  called  when  R.  Key  began  his  labours  in  the  North  Walsham  Circuit.  In  this  corner 
of  the  county  is  the  newly-formed  Holt  and  Sheringham  Circuit,  carved  out  of  Briston 
and  Aylsham  Circuits.  The  rising  watering-place  and  fishing  village  of  Sheringham 
is  now  as  bright  a  spot  on  our  Connexional  map  as  Filey,  or  Cullercoats,  or  Staithes,  or 
Banks,  of  which  places  it  reminds  us.  In  its  pretty  village-chapel  Christians  of  various 
communities  love  to  join  with  the  fishermen  in  their  hearty  worship,  and  occasionally, 
like  Dr.  Fairbairn,  taste  a  fresh  experience  in  relating  their  Christian  experience  at  the 
call  of  a  guernsey-clad  leader. 

We  have  glanced  at  the  missioning  of  North- West  Norfolk  by  Lynn  Circuit.     The 
Rev.  F.  B.  Paston   tells  us   that,  even   in  1862,  when  he  began   his  labours   on  the 

*  "  East  Anglia.     Personal  Eecollections  and  Historical  Associations,"  p.  31. 


242  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

Docking  Station  in  this  division  of  the  county,  the  villages  of  which  the  circuit  is 
composed,  were  in  a  sad  condition  of  ignorance,  poverty,  and  serfdom.  The  squire  and 
the  parson  ruled.  To  eat,  to  drink,  to  sleep — this  was  the  routine  of  the  labourers' 
life.  But  a  few  began  to  think  and  read  and  discuss,  and  got  their  eyes  opened  to 
discern  their  wants.  As  formulated,  these  were — the  establishment  of  a  trades  union, 
direct  Parliamentary  representation,  and  a  living  wage.  Thirty  years  after,  when 
Mr.  Paston  returned  to  the  station,  the  objects  aimed  at  had  been  gained.  The  day  of 
emancipation  for  the  agricultural  labourers  had  come  at  last.  Joseph  Arch,  the  founder 
of  the  Labourers'  Union  and  a  Primitive  Methodist  local  preacher,  was  member  for 
North-West  Norfolk.  The  composition  of  the  Parish  Council  showed  that  the  long 
sowing  and  waiting  had  not  been  in  vain,  that  the  East  Anglian  peasant  had  won  his 
freedom  and  knew  how  to  use  it. 

We  have  already  quoted  Canon  Jessopp  as  to  the  former  condition  of  the  peasantry 
of  Mid-Norfolk.  The  same  high  and  unexceptionable  authority  may  be  quoted  as  to 
the  influence  our  Church  has  exerted  and  still  exerts  in  East  Anglia,  where,  he  tells 
us  the  immense  majority  of  those  who  attend  Nonconformist  chapels  are  Primitive 
Methodists.  This  reference  to  our  Church  must  not  suffer  curtailment,  and  it  is  with 
a  pride,  surely  pardonable,  we  give  it  place  here. 

"  Explain  it  how  we  will,  and  draw  our  inferences  as  we  choose,  there  is  no 
denying  it  that  in  hundreds  of  parishes  in  England  the  stuffy  little  chapel  by  the 
wayside  has  been  the  only  place  where  for  many  a  long  day  the  very  existence 
of  religious  emotion  has  been  recognised ;  the  only  place  in  which  the  yearnings 
of  the  soul  and  its  strong  crying  and  tears  have  been  allowed  to  express  themselves 
in  the  language  of  the  moment  unfettered  by  rigid  forms ;  the  only  place  where 
the  agonised  conscience  has  been  encouraged  and  invited  to  rid  itself  of  its  sore 
burden  by  confession,  and  comforted  by  at  least  the  semblance  of  sympathy ; 
the  only  place  where  the  peasantry  have  enjoyed  the  free  expression  of  their 
opinions,  and  where,  under  an  organisation  elaborated  with  extraordinary  sagacity, 
they  have  kept  up  a  school  of  music,  literature,  and  politics,  self-supporting  and 
unaided  by  dole  or  subsidy—  above  all,  a  school  of  eloquence,  in  which  the  lowliest 
has  become  familiarised  with  the  ordinary  rules  of  debate,  and  has  been  trained 
to  express  himself  with  directness,  vigour,  and  fluency.  What  the  Society  of  Jesus 
was  among  the  more  cultured  classes  in  the  sixteenth  century,  what  the  Friars 
were  to  the  masses  in  the  towns  during  the  thirteenth,  that  the  Primitive 
Methodists  are  in  a  fair  way  of  becoming  among  the  labouring  classes  in  East 
Anglia  in  our  own  time."* 

THE  RAMIFICATIONS  OF  BRANDON  AND  WANGFORD  CIRCUITS. 

Brandon,  made  a  circuit  in  1828,  demands  an  additional  word.  No  one,  judging  by 
the  present  shrunken  proportions  of  the  "Brandon  and  Methwold"  station,  would  suspect 
that  its  precursor  figured  so  largely  in  the  early  history  of  the  Norwich  District. 
James  Garner's  mission  to  Marshland  has  been  referred  to.f  In  1833,  Brandon  reported 
660  members.  In  1840,  through  the  labours,  in  turn,  of  Messrs.  Bellham,  Moss,  Knock, 

*  "  Arcady,  for  Better  for  Worse,"  pp.  77-8.     f  See  Vol.  ii.  p.  222. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


243 


Winkfield,  and  their  colleagues,  the  membership  had  risen  to  954.  But  between 
these  years  Rockland  Circuit  was  made  with  472  members,  so  that  the  actual 
increase  for  the  seven  years  was  766.  This  numerical  advance  was  the  more  remark- 
able as,  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  septennate,  persecution  had  been  bitter  and  the 
poverty  of  the  people  extreme.  At  Thelnetham,  Rushford,  and  Bridgham  the  societies 
were  deprived  of  their  preaching-places.  At  Tottington,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cheston  (the 
latter  the  mother  of  the  Rev.  R.  Church)  were  turned  out  of  house  and  home,  and 
their  goods  left  on  the  open  green  for  three  days  and  nights  because  they  "  harboured 
the  Ranters."  Ultimately  they  found  shelter  at  Thompson,  two  miles  away,  and  as 


>•]'.    M<  'KOLAS 
Where  the  First  Opeu-air  Service  was  held,  conducted  by  Mr.  J.  Kent. 

they  opened  their  house  for  preaching,  their  settlement  there  was  the  means  of 
strengthening  the  village  society.*  It  was  in  the  face  of  difficulties  such  as  these 
that  the  Brandon  Circuit  extended  itself. 

Bury  St.  Edmund's,  Thetford,  Watton,  and  Diss,  each  now  the  head  of  a  circuit,  are 
all  found  on  the  early  plans  of  Brandon.  Bury  was  successfully  missioned  in  1829 
by  G.  Appleby  and  G.  Tetley,  and  formed  part  of  the  Brandon  Circuit  until  1842,  when 

*  See  the  Magazine  for  1861,  p.  232,  which  also  contains  the  account  of  the  opening  of  a  chapel 
at  Thompson  hy  Messrs.  R.  Church,  O.  Jackson,  and  "W.  H.  Meadows,  very  familiar  names  in 

East  Anglia. 

Q  2 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


it  became  a  circuit  in  its  own  right.  Sudbury  Circuit  has  since  been  formed  from  Bury. 
Our  Church  found  it  no  easy  matter  to  get  footing  in  the  ancient  town  of  Thetford, 
once  the  capital  of  East  Anglia,  a  bishop's  seat  even  before  Norwich,  and  boasting  of 
its  eight  monasteries  and  twenty  churches.  The  first  efforts  of  our  missionaries  were 
unsuccessful  but,  in  1836,  John  Kent  tried  it  again,  preaching  in  St.  Nicholas  Street, 
and  suffered  temporary  arrest  in  consequence.  After  this,  a  society  which  proved 
permanent  was  established,  and  a  chapel  opened  in  1839.  Under  the  able  superin- 
tendency  of  G.  Tetley  the  Thetford  Branch  became  an  independent  circuit  in  1859, 
and,  to-day,  it  takes  rank  as  a  good  country  station  with  some  twelve  or  thirteen 
separate  interests. 

Lopham,  another  old-world  place,  is  on  the  Brandon  Circuit  plan  of  1834.  During 
the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  Mr.  George  Wharton,  a  good  specimen  of 
the  old  English  yeoman,  was  resident  at  North  Lopham.  He  accepted  Methodism, 
recently  introduced  into  the  village,  entertained  the  preachers,  and  allowed  them  the 
use  of  his  kitchen  for  their  services.  His  son  of  the  same  name  succeeded  to  the 
paternal  estate  and,  being  a  lover  of  old  Methodism  and  camp  meetings,  he  transferred 
his  patronage  to  the  Primitives  on  their  coming  into  these  parts.  He  granted  them  the 

use  of  a  shed  roofed  with  faggots  as  their 
preaching-place.  This  primitive  structure 
had  a  curious  origin.  Mr.  Wharton  was, 
in  his  way,  a  musical  amateur,  and,  on  his 
relinquishing  the  Grange  Farm  in  favour 
of  his  son  George,  he  built  the  shed  to 
serve  the  purpose  of  a  music-saloon,  to 
which  he  might  retire  at  will  and  play 
on  the  bass-viol  to  his  heart's  content, 
without  disturbing  his  wife,  who  did  not 
appreciate  his  musical  efforts.  The  old 
shed,  afterwards  enlarged  and  roofed  with 

thatch,  became  known  as  the  "Old  Gospel  Shop."  Subsequently,  we  are  told, 
Mr.  George  Wharton  (the  third  of  that  name,  we  take  it)  built  a  chapel  for  the  use 
of  the  society  at  Lopham,  and  also  at  New  Buckenham,  Wortham,  and  East  Harling. 
By  his  will  he  devised  the  chapel  to  his  son  John,  and,  by  an  arrangement  with  the 
devisees,  the  Lopham  chapel  and  adjoining  schoolroom  were,  in  1861,  made  over  to  the 
Connexion.  There  is  a  tablet  in  the  chapel  to  the  memory  of  "  George  Wharton,  Gent., 
who  died  Feb.  4,  1837."  "  Several  members  of  the  Wharton  family  are  buried  in  and 
around  the  chapel,  and  in  a  garden  adjoining  are  the  graves  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Rolfe 
(Lydia  Wharton),  and  Mr.  John  Bird.  The  garden  is  now  private  property,  and 
owned  by  a  descendant  of  George  Wharton."*  The  fact  that  Lopham,  beginning  as 
part  of  Brandon,  was  afterwards  included  in  Rockland,  and  is  now  in  Diss  Circuit, 
points  to  the  changes  the  years  have  brought. 

Rockland  was  made  a  circuit  from  Brandon  during  1833,  and  in  1834  Robert  Key, 

*  See  article  on  "  The  Lopham  People,"  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Berry,  in  the  Christian  Messenger,  1900, 
pp.  328-9. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  245 

fresh  from  his  triumphs  in  Mattishall,  became  its  superintendent,  and  continued  such 
for  two  years.  In  1835  the  newly-formed  circuit  reported  710  members,  being  an 
increase  of  323.  Rockland,  in  its  turn,  missioned  Stowmarket,  which  was  made 
a  circuit  in  1835,  with  only  95  members. 

In  1837  Robert  Key  began  a  mission  at  Hadleigh,  in  Suffolk,  a  place  famous  in 
ecclesiastical  history  as  the  scene  of  a  martyrdom  and  as  the  place  where  the  Anglo- 
Catholic  movement  had  its  beginning.  On  a  common  near  the  town  Key  would  read 
the  inscription  : — 

"Near  the  spot  where  this  stone  stood, 
Rowland  Taylor  shed  his  blood." 

And,  only  four  years  before,  the  meeting  had  taken  place  in  the  rectory  parlour  of 
Hugh  James  Rose  from  which  resulted  the  "Tracts  for  the  Times."  The  conditions 
under  which  Mr.  Key  prosecuted  his  mission  in  Suffolk  were  somewhat  different  from 
those  which  had  attended  his  work  in  Mid-Norfolk.  The  people  seemed  more  difficult 
to  reach — harder  to  impress.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  Antinomianism  about.  Many 
of  the  people,  too,  were  accustomed  to  "good"  sermonising  and  plenty  of  it,  and 
would  not  be  put  off  with  anything  else.  It  is  not  suggested  that  Mr.  Key  had  no 
message  for  the  people ;  only,  that  their  ecclesiastical  predilections  or  doctrinal  errors 
were  such  as  made  his  task  more  difficult,  and  drove  him  to  study  his  message,  and 
how  he  could  best  urge  it  home  through  the  resistant  coating  superinduced  by  habit 
or  prejudice.  Still,  Mr.  Key  met  with  a  measure  of  success,  though  not  on  the  scale 
to  which  he  had  been  accustomed.  Some  of  the  remarkable  displays  of  Divine  grace 
witnessed  by  him  about  this  time  he  has  duly  recorded  in  his  "  Gospel  among  the 
Masses."  One  of  the  places  missioned  was  Polstead — a  veritable  "Satan's  seat,"  on 
which  a  lurid  light  had  recently  been  cast.  A  crime  perpetrated  there  was  the 
sensation  of  the  day.  For  a  time  everybody  was  talking  of  the  Red  Barn  and  the 
murder  of  Maria  Martin.  Robert  Key  tells  us  that  when  he  visited  Polstead  it  was 
little  better  than  a  den  of  thieves.  "Seventeen  houses  in  the  village  were  unlicensed 
beer-houses  !  Barns,  malt-houses,  shops,  and  sheep-folds  were  visited  by  gangs  of  armed 
men  for  the  purpose  of  plunder,  and  seldom  were  the  county  Assizes  held  without 
some  criminals  from  Polstead  being  indicted."  In  this  notorious  place  his  laboiirs 
were  crowned  with  marked  success.  Hadleigh  was  made  a  circuit  in  1838  with 
150  members.  In  recent  years  it  has  been  divided  up  between  Ipswich  and  Colchester 
Circuits. 

We  have  already  seen  Wangford,  as  an  offshoot  of  Yarmouth,  attaining  circuit 
independence  in  1833.  It  fell  to  its  lot  to  work  in  the  easternmost  part  of  England,  where 
the  land  bulges  out  like  a  bellying  sail,  although  the  sea  has  done  its  best,  or  its  worst, 
for,  a  thousand  years,  to  throw  back  the  coast-line,  so  that  Dunwich,  once  a  famous 
city  of  East  Anglia,  which  fitted  out  fleets,  and  through  whose  brazen  gates  armies 
passed,  has  shrunk  to  a  poor  village,  the  mere  wreck  of  the  ancient  city,  though,  until 
1832,  it  returned  two  members  to  Parliament.  Covehithe,  Southwold,  and  Wrentham, 
as  well  as  historic  Dunwich,  are  found  on  the  early  plans  of  Wangford  Circuit.  The 
making  of  Beccles  and  Bungay  Circuit  is  quite  recent.  Kelsale,  near  Saxmundham, 


246 


1'HIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


has  had  a  chequered  history.  Originally  part  of  Wangford  Circuit,  it,  along  with 
Melton  and  a  few  other  places,  formed  a  distinct  circuit  for  two  years — 1837-8. 
Then  it  became  the  Kelsale  Mission  of  Wangford,  and  so  continued  until  1862,  when 
it  was  taken  over  by  the  General  Missionary  Committee,  and  remained  under  its  care 
until  1881.  The  year  1862  was  noteworthy  for  a  feat  in  chapel  removing.  In  1860, 
a  site  of  land  was  purchased  at  Melton,  in  the  Kelsale  Mission,  for  the  erection  of 
a  chapel.  The  site  was  contiguous  to  a  villa  occupied  by  a  barrister.  Some  few 
months  after  the  completion  of  the  building,  the  owner  of  the  villa  brought  an  action 
against  the  trustees  for  an  alleged  interference  with  his  light.  The  trial  was  heard  at 


THE   REMOVAL  OF  THE   CHAPEL  AT   MELTON,    WOODBRIDGE,    SUFFOLK. 

the  Bury  Summer  Assizes,  1861,  and  went  against  the  trustees.  The  animus  of  the 
Church  party  was  notorious,  and  it  had  won  the  day.  At  this  juncture  Mr.  H.  Collins 
suggested  that  the  chapel  should  be  removed  bodily.  The  suggestion  that  at  first 
seemed  so  strange  was  soon  taken  up  seriously.  Additional  land  was  bought,  and,  by 
an  ingenious  process  we  do  not  stay  to  describe,  Mr.  Collins  and  his  brother,  as 
engineers,  effected  the  removal  of  the  chapel.  "  A  Great  Moving  Day  "  was  announced, 
and  hundreds  of  people  assembled  to  witness  the  successful  carrying  out  of  the  operation. 
Even  then  the  owner  of  the  villa  was  not  satisfied,  but  threatened  another  action 
because  the  chapel  had  not  been  removed  far  enough.  Counsel's  opinion  being  taken 
he  advised  that  as  the  trustees  had  yet  four  feet  of  land  intended  for  a  path,  this 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  247 

should  be  taken  advantage  of,  and  the  path  made  to  run  by  the  side  of  the  villa  for 
the  satisfaction  of  its  occupants.  This  was  done,  and  the  chapel  was  moved  in  all 
some  twenty  feet  eight  inches  without  a  window-pane  being  cracked,  or  the  building 
suffering  the  slightest  damage.  An  illustrated  account  of  this  triumph  of  mechanics 
over  bigotry  appeared  in  the  "  Illustrated  London  News "  of  the  time.  The  cost  of 
the  transaction  was  but  £31  12s.  6d.,  though  there  was  a  heavy  bill  of  legal  expenses 
which  brought  the  entire  cost  up  to  £800.*  This,  we  are  told,  was  paid  off,  and  a  few- 
years  ago  the  trustees  took  over  £50  of  the  debt  of  a  struggling  cause  at  Shottisham. 

*  "  To  J.  H.  Tillett,  Esq.,  solicitor  (Melton  Chapel  case),  £280.  To  W.  Harland,  to  Norwich  and 
Melton,  as  per  order  of  Conference,  £2  3s." — Minutes  of  Conference,  1862.  The  view  given  in 
the  text,  taken  at  the  time,  has  been  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  Henry  Collins,  millwright,  etc.,  Melton, 
through  Rev.  J.  H.  Geeson. 


248 


PKIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   PRIMITIVE   METHODISM   IN   LONDON. 
A  RETROSPECT  AND  FORECAST. 

HE  history  of  Norwich  District  would  be  incomplete  were  we  to  omit  all 
reference  to  the  fact  that  for  seven  years — 1828  to  1834 — London  stood 
on  the  stations  of  that  District.  During  part  of  this  time,  Sheerness 
and  other  places  in  Kent  were  on  the  plan  of  London  Circuit,  so  that 
the  Norwich  District,  before  1842,  had  stations  or  missions  in  Essex,  Cambridge, 
Huntingdon,  Lincoln  (Holbeach),  Northampton,  Middlesex,  Surrey  and  Kent,  besides 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  in  all  some  ten  counties.  We  see  that  this  connection  between 
London  and  East  Anglian  Primitive  Methodism  was  more  than  a  nominal  one — that  it  had 
practical  consequences — when  we  find  John  Smith  (1)  and  Robert  Key  walking  all  the 
way  from  Norfolk  to  London  in  order  to  attend  the  District  Meeting  of  1833.  That 
year  the  District  increase  was  1638,  an  evidence  of  success  which  no  doubt  greatly 
encouraged  the  delegates.  It  was  during  the  District  Meeting  week,  while  speaking 
at  a  missionary  meeting  in  Blue  Gate  Fields  Chapel,  that  R.  Key  brought  down  his 
fist  with  such  emphasis  on  the  table  as  to  split  it  in  two,  while  Hugh  Bourne  picked 
xip  the  scattered  candles.  London's  connection  with  Norwich  District  had  some  more 
lasting  results ;  for,  while  Norwich  District  gave  such  preachers  as  James  Garner  (1), 
J.  Oscroft,  and  R.  Howchin  for  the  London  work,  London,  in  its  turn,  was  the  means  of 
strengthening  that  District  by  giving  it  such  men  as  W.  Wainwright  (1)  and  G.  Tetley. 
The  latter  was  one  of  the  early  fruits  of  Leeds  Primitive  Methodism,  became  a  notable 
figure  in  the  Norwich  District,  and  attained  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Conference  of 
1855.  If  for  no  other  reason  than  the  some-time  connection  of 
London  with  Norwich  District,  we  have  reached  a  convenient 
point  for  setting  forth  how  Primitive  Methodism  was  introduced 
into  London  and  how,  in  spite  of  great  difficulties,  it  rooted  itself 
there  and  grew.  But  there  is  a  further  reason.  The  narrative 
now  called  for  is  historically  knitted  to  what  has  already  been 
related,  and  to  what  yet  remains  to  be  told.  London  has  been 
reached  from  the  north  and  the  east.  Leeds  and  Hull  and,  after 
Norwich  District,  Hull  once  more,  have  had  a  hand  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  Church-life  in  the  metropolis.  While  this  has  been 
w.  WAINWKIGHT.  g°irig  on  °n  °ne  side  of  the  island,  Tunstall  District  has  been 
consolidating  itself,  and  preparing  for  the  future  Manchester, 
West  Midland,  Liverpool,  and  Shrewsbury  Districts.  It  has  also,  by  its  Western  and  other 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  249 

missions,  been  making  its  way  down  the  Severn  Valley  and  the  Thames  Basin.  On 
this  side,  the  outstanding  fact  is  the  creation  of  the  Brinkworth 
District  from  Tunstall,  just  as,  on  the  East,  the  outstanding  fact 
was  the  creation  of  Norwich  District  out  of  Nottingham.  The 
missionaries  of  Brinkworth  will  not  be  found  labouring  in  London 
itself,  but  they  will  be  found  labouring  very  near  to  it — in  Berk- 
shire, Buckinghamshire,  and  in  the  home-county  of  Hertfordshire. 
Looking  forward  a  few  years,  we  shall  see  how,  when  in  1853 
the  composite  London  District  is  to  be  formed,  Brinkworth-  District 
becomes  one  of  the  largest  contributors,  surrendering  the  im- 
portant circuits  of  Reading,  High  Wycombe,  and  Luton,  as  well 
GEO.  TETLEY.  as  Maidenhead,  towards  the  formation  of  the  new  District. 

In    this    transitional    chapter   we    confine    ourselves    to    the   beginnings   of    Primitive 

Methodism  in  London. 

EARLY  ABORTIVE  MISSIONS  IN  LONDON. 

Hugh  Bourne  and  James  Crawfoot  spent  a  fortnight  in  London  in  the  autumn 
of  1810.  Was  this  merely  a  pleasure-excursion,  or  an  evangelistic  mission?  If  only 
the  former,  then  it  belongs  to  the  biography  of  Hugh  Bourne  rather  than  to  this 
History.  But  it  is  clear,  from  the  very  first  mention  of  the  project  in  his  Journal, 
and  from  subsequent  references  to  the  visit,  that  Hugh  Bourne  himself  regarded  it  as 
a  "religious  excursion,"  as  likely  to  afford  him  the  opportunity  of  trying  his  methods 
of  evangelism  in  a  new  and  tempting  field.  While  going  in  and  out  amongst  the 
Independent  Methodists  at  Stockton  Heath,  W.  Clowes,  he  says,  "  Informed  me  that 
John  Shegog  [a  Staffordshire  man  resident  in  London]  wanted  me  to  go  to  London, 
and  that  there  seemed  to  be  a  call,  and  that  my  way  was  open  there.  This  kept  me 
awake  a  good  while ;  but  I  left  it  to  the  Lord,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  Lord  directed 
me  to  go  to  London.  0  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done."  Arrived  in  London,  Hugh  Bourne 
and  his  companion  did  not  entirely  neglect  seeing  the  sights.  They  saw  the  king's 
palace,  and  climbed  nearly  to  the  top  of  St.  Paul's,  "  and  had  views  of  the  city.  It 
is  wonderful,"  adds  H.  B. ;  "  but,  0  Lord,  what  shall  be  done  for  the  multitudes  of 
the  inhabitants?  0  Lord,  have  pity  on  them."  Lancaster's  Free  School  was  visited, 
and  the  notorious  Joanna  Southcote,  whom  H.  B.  "  thought  was  in  witchcraft."  But 
still  their  main  pre-occupation  was  evangelism.  Each  preached  in  the  open-air  in 
Portland  Street  and  Kentish  Town.  They  held  various  cottage-meetings,  at  which 
converts  were  won.  Much  space  is  given  in  the  Journal  to  the  astonishing  cure, 
through  the  prayers  and  faith  of  James  Crawfoot,  of  Anne  Chapman,  a  pious  young 
woman  and  visionist,  who,  after  being  seven  months  in  hospital,  was  dismissed  as 
incurable.  What  were  the  results  of  this  short  visit  ?  Under  date  of  October  23rd,  1810, 
Hugh  Bourne  writes  in  his  Journal  :— 

"Clowes  has  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Shegog,  of  London,  stating  that 
Anne  Chapman  was  at  the  chapel  last  Tuesday,  and  was  enabled  to  stand  up 
and  join  in  the  singing,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  congregation ;  and  that  her 


250  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

miraculous  restoration  from  what  appeared  to  be  the  bed  of  death  has  raised 
an  inquiry  in  many  as  to  the  deep  things  of  God.  He  says  they  greatly  desire 
to  see  us  again  ;  and  that  the  converts  the  Lord  gave  old  James  and  me  are  going 
on  well,  especially  sister  Chapman  and  two  brethren.  He  also  says  that  he  is 
endeavouring  to  fan  the  flame  which  the  Lord  enabled  us  to  kindle  in  London." 

This  record  explains  why,  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  we  find  John  Benton  labouring  in 
London.  If  lie  shrank  from  entering  Leicester,  we  can  readily  understand  why  he 
should  feel  out  of  his  element  in  London,  and  soon  return  to  more  congenial  spheres 
of  labour.  Still,  Benton  met  with  considerable  success,  as  Hugh  Bourne's  Journal 
clearly  shows.  In  proof,  we  have  such  entries  as  these:  "Sept.  16th.  I  received  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Shegog,  of  London,  informing  me  that  John  Benton  had  great  and 
rapid  success  there."  And,  a  little  later:  "They  have  joined  about  forty  five  since 
John  Benton  went  to  London."  Then  in  October,  1811,  some  four  months  after  the 
new  denomination  had  been  formed  by  the  coming  together  of  the  Clowesites  and 
Camp  Meeting  Methodists,  we  find  Hugh  Bourne  including  High  Wycombe  and  London 
amongst  the  societies  claimed  by  the  denomination  which,  in  February,  1812,  was  to 
take  the  name  of  Primitive  Methodists.  But  the  society  in  London  was  too  far  a\vay 
to  benefit  by  efficient  oversight.  Thus  cut  off  and  exposed  to  all  the  erosive  influences  of 
London  life,  such  an  isolated  society  would  be  likely  soon  to  fall  to  pieces  and  disappear. 
It  is,  therefore,  all  the  more  surprising  to  find  Hugh  Bourne,  seven  years  after,  referring 
to  the  "  London  Primitive  Methodists,"  and  noting  that  one  of  these — W.  Jefferson,  has 
been  selected  to  preach  the  opening  sermons  at  Dead  Lane  Chapel,  Loughboroiigh,  and 
that  he  is  one  of  the  Loughborough  Circuit  preachers  for  1821.*  These  London 
Primitive  Methodists  of  1818  are  one  of  the  puzzles  of  our  early  history.  How  shall 
we  account  for  them  ?  Were  they,  after  all,  the  representatives  of  the  four  classes 
formed  by  Benton  in  1811,  or  had  a  new  section  of  religionists  in  the  meantime 
sprung  into  existence  and  assumed  the  name  Primitive  Methodists,  while  remaining 
unattached  to  the  Staffordshire  movement1?  No  answer  to  these  questions  is  as  yet 
forthcoming.  That  there  were  Primitive  Methodists  in  London  in  1818  seems  to  be 
indisputable  ;  that  none  could  be  found  in  December,  1822,  is  equally  indisputable. 
This  will  be  clear  from  the  subsequent  narrative,  which  also  forces  on  us  the  reflection 
that,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  London  Mission,  Divine  Providence  again  and  again 
very  considerately  made  up  for  the  deficiencies  of  human  providence. 

THE  REAL  BEGINNING  OF  LONPON  PRIMITIVE  METHODISM. 

Leeds  Circuit,  finding  itself  in  the  possession  of  a  respectable  balance,  resolved  to 
expend  it  in  starting  a  distant  mission.  But  where '{  Sunderland,  it  is  said,  was  fixed 
upon  as  the  centre  of  the  intended  mission,  and  Paul  Sugden  was  instructed  to  make  his 
way  there.  But  Sunderland  was  now  within  the  area  of  Hull's  new  Northern  Mission,  so 
the  objective  of  the  prospective  mission  was  changed  to  London.  Sugden  was  accompanied 
by  a  zealous  unpaid  volunteer  named  W.  Watson.  When  the  two  alighted  (December,  1822) 

*  See  Vol.  i.  p.  316. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE 


251 


from  their  coach  in  the  yard  of  the  "Swan  with  Two  Necks,"  in  Lad  Lane  (now 
Gresham  Street),  they  were  the  joint  possessors  of  one  shilling,  which  soon  passed 
into  the  pocket  of  the  coachman  who  had  touched  his  hat  for  the  accustomed  gratuity. 
When  the  guard  also  approached  and  touched  his  hat,  they  told  him  frankly  they  were 
penniless,  and  what  had  brought  them  to  the  great  city.  The  guard  was  a  kind-hearted 
Christian  man,  who  knew  guilelessness  from  its  subtle  counterfeit.  He  took  the 
missionaries  home  with  him,  and  not  only  gave  them  breakfast,  but  bought  a  hymn- 
book  of  them  so  that  their  next  meal  might  be  assured.  The  lot  of  the  missionaries 
was  no  enviable  one.  They  were  practically  stranded  in  the  biggest  city  in  the  world, 


THE    "SWAN    WITH    TWO   NECKS.' 


with  no  supporters,  and  no  material  base  or  supplies  for  their  work.  Yet,  once 
more,  Providence  befriended  them.  If  there  were  no  Primitive  Methodists  in 
London  there  were  some  Bible  Christians  who,  as  usual,  showed  a  kindly  spirit 
By  these  the  two  were  engaged  as  temporary  supplies,  P.  Sugden  going  into  Kent, 
while  W.  Watson  remained  in  London.  One  day  the  latter,  while  preaching,  let 
a  warm-hearted  allusion  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Primitive  Methodist  escape  him. 
This  disclosure  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  co-religionist  in  the  congregation.  They 
came  together,  with  the  result  that  next  day  a  small  chapel  in  Cooper's  Gardens, 
near  Shoreditch  Church,  was  taken.  Cooper's  Gardens,  euphemistically  so  called, 
was  a  narrow  thoroughfare  leading  off  Hackney  Road,  at  a  point  about  a  hundred 


252 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


yards  from  Shoreditch  Church,  where  Hackney  Road  begins.  Access  to  this  thorough- 
fare was  gained  through  a  low,  flat  archway,  or  rather,  through  a  door-shaped  entry ; 
then,  passing  some  shabby  cottages,  you  had  the  chapel  on  your  right.  In  those  day& 
the  locality  did  not  improve  in  looks  as  you  went  further  on,  nor  was  its  reputation 
of  the  best ;  for  Nova  Scotia  Gardens,  where  the  notorious  murderers  Bishop  and 
Williams  had  lived,  were  not  far  away.  As  for  the  chapel,  well  may  Mr.  Yarrow  call 
it  "one  of  the  quaintest  of  chapels."*  Eighty  years  ago  there  were  hidden  away 
in  odd  nooks  and  corners  of  London  many  such  old  conventicles.  They  recalled  the 
days  when  Dissenters  thought  it  best  to  keep  their  places  of  worship  out  of  sight  as 
much  as  possible.  Even  now,  you  may  occasionally  stumble  upon  a  building  given  up 
to  the  most  secular  uses  which  yet  shows  something  of  the  old  conventicle  look.  But 


ENTRANCE  TO   COOPER'S   GARDENS. 


the  number  of  such  buildings  is  becoming  smaller  every  year.  Cooper's  Gardens  Chapel 
was  a  small,  almost  square  building,  being  about  twenty  feet  each  way.  Small 
though  it  was  it  boasted  three  galleries,  each  reached  by  a  separate  flight  of  stairs. 
The  pulpit  was  stuck  agains-t  the  left  or  eastern  wall.  The  chandelier  was  a  hoop 
suspended  by  ropes  from  the  ceiling,  with  tin  sconces  affixed,  and  tallow  candles  were 
the  illuminants.  No  picture  of  Cooper's  Gardens  first  chapel  is  now  procurable ;  hence 
we  have  been  the  more  particular  to  give  some  idea  of  its  situation  and  appearance, 
because  this  was  our  first  Connexional  base  and  centre  in  the  metropolis.  Three  generations 
of  chapels  stood  on  this  site.  Cooper's  Gardens  first  chapel  lasted  until  1835,  then  came 
the  second  of  the  name,  and  in  1852  the  third.  For  fifty-three  years — 1822  to  1875 — 

*  "  The  History  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  London."     By  William  H.  Yarrow.    1876. 


THE    PEKIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


253 


this  spot  in  Bethnal  Green  was  familiar  and  dear  to  Primitive  Methodists,  the  home 
of  a  strong  and  aggressive  society,  and  the  birthplace  of  many  souls. 

After  Cooper's  Gardens  Chapel  was  taken,  P.  Sugden  was  called  in  from  Kent, 
and  J.  Coulson  walked  from  Leeds  to  supply  the  place  of  W.  Watson.  He  walked, 
because  the  "  cause  "  could  not  afford  to  pay  for  an  inside  seat  in  the  coach,  and  it  was 
too  cold  to  ride  on  the  outside.  He  entered  London  late  in  January,  1823,  with  three 
shillings  in  his  pocket,  and  no  very  clear  idea  as  to  the  direction  he  should  take  to 
find  chapel  or  colleague.  He  had  a  hazy  notion  that  Cooper's  Gardens  was  somewhere 
near  Shoreditch  Church,  and  so,  as  he  made  his  way  along  Old  Street,  he  kept  anxiety 
at  bay  by  lifting  up  his  heart  to  God  and  saying,  "  Lord,  it  would  be  a  little  thing  for 
Thee  to  let  me  meet  with  Paul  Sugden."  This  child-like  confidence  was  not  misplaced. 


COOPERS   GARDENS   THIRD   CHAPEL. 

The  colleagues  did  meet,  and  that  "right  early";  for,  as  Coulson  a  little  later  passed 
along  a  certain  street,  he  was  seen  by  P.  Sugden,  who  happened  to  be  in  a  shop  at  the 
time.  To  run  out  and  welcome  his  colleague  was  the  work  of  a  moment.  We  may 
call  it  a  remarkable  coincidence,  but  the  men  more  directly  concerned  saw  the  hand 
of  God  in  the  rencontre. 

On  yet  another  winter's  day,  in  January,  1824,  W.  Clowes  took  charge  of  the  London 
Mission,  and  remained  in  charge  until  September,  1825.  His  coming  opened  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  London  Primitive  Methodism,  the  first  chapter  having  ended 
disappointingly.  During  the  year  1823,  the  few  and  feeble  societies  had  been  formed — 
and  prematurely  formed,  one  cannot  but  think — into  a  circuit.  Local  difficulties  led 
to  a  still  further  and  most  unwise  division  of  the  circuit  into  East  and  West,  with 
the  result  that  might  have  been  anticipated.  The  societies  soon  found  themselves 


254  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

in  difficulties,  and  an  appeal  was  made  to  Hull  Circuit  to  save  them  from  utter  wreck. 
The  appointment  of  Clowes  at  this  crisis  was  a  wise  step.  Never,  perhaps,  during  the 
course  of  his  active  ministry  did  he  give  more  manifest  proofs  of  the  possession  of 
administrative  ability,  as  well  as  of  evangelistic  aptitudes,  than  during  his  twenty 
months  labours  in  London.  He  enforced  discipline  ;  curtailed  expense  wherever 
possible ;  reunited  the  divided  East  and  West,  and  set  himself  to  restore  the  societies 
to  solvency.  In  effecting  this  last  he  was  greatly  indebted  to  Mrs.  Gardiner,  one  of 
those  "  honourable  women "  of  -whom  there  have  been  "  not  a  few "  in  the  history 
of  our  London  churches.  Mrs.  Gardiner  is  said  to  have  been  led  to  identify  herself 
with  our  cause  in  London  through  the  preaching  of  J.  Coulson.  She  had  both  the 
means  and  the  will  to  further  the  work  of  God.  The  poorly  paid,  and  often  insufficiently 
fed  pioneer  preachers,  were  welcomed  to  her  table  and  followed  by  her  thoughtful 
kindness.  At  this  juncture,  W.  Clowes  appealed  to  Mrs.  Gardiner,  who  at  once  lent 
him  a  hundred  pounds  on  his  note  of  hand.  With  this  sum  he  was  enabled  to  pay 
off  outstanding  bills,  and  relieve  the  financial  pressure  on  the  societies.  As  for  the 
promissory-note,  it  was,  not  long  after,  taken  out  of  the  escritoire  and  put  into  the 
fire  as  a  burnt-offering  to  the  Lord. 

Clowes  found,  as  many  both  before  and  since  his  time  have  found,  that  London 
evangelism  has  its  own  special  difficulties,  making  heavy  demands  on  faith  and  patience. 
Not  here,  least  of  all,  can  the  outworks  of  evil  be  carried  at  a  rush,  but  only  by  the 
slow  process  of  sapping  and  mining.  Clowes  had  a  sanguine  temperament,  and  had 
come  to  London  fresh  from  revivals  on  a  large  scale,  and  so  his  Journal  reveals  a  certain 
disappointment  with  what  seemed  to  be,  in  comparison,  the  meagre  results  of  his 
labours.  Now  he  writes  :  "  London  is  London  still,  careless,  trifling,  gay,  and  hardened 
through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin."  And  again  :  "  Often  have  T  preached  within  and 
without  the  room  [in  Snow  Fields,  in  the  Borough],  and  laboured  with  all  the  powers 
of  my  body  and  soul ;  but  the  pride,  levity,  and  corruption  of  London  appeared  to  be 
unassailable ;  the  powers  of  hell  reigned  fearfully  triumphant,  the  pall  of  midnight 
darkness  rested  upon  thousands  of  all  orders  of  society.  Oh,  for  God's  mighty  arm 
to  be  outstretched,  to  shake  the  mighty  Babylon  to  its  centre  ! " 

Any  one  who  reads  the  accounts  Clowes  has  given  in  his  Journal  of  some  of  his 
experiences  as  an  open-air  evangelist  in  London,  will  cease  to  wonder  that  he  uses 
strong  language  in  writing  of  its  moral  condition,  as  he  found  it  in  1824.  Let  the 
reader  take  a  brief  summary  of  one  or  two  of  the  incidents  he  gives. 

As  he  passes  through  Clare  Market  his  soul  is  stirred  within  him  as  he  sees  the 
awful  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day.  He  takes  his  stand  among  the  people  and 
beseeches  them  to  turn  from  their  evil  ways  and  seek  the  Lord.  The  next  Sabbath, 
true  to  his  promise,  he  is  in  Clare  Market  again.  He  begins  to  sing,  but  is  stopped 
by  a  policeman  and  forbidden  to  disturb  the  market-people.  When  asked  for  his 
authority,  the  officer  pulls  out  his  truncheon,  and  says :  "  This  is  my  authority."  An 
open  window  is  offered  him,  and  from  that  vantage-ground  Clowes  "  pours  the  thunders 
of  the  law  upon  the  rebels  against  God  and  the  King."  From  Clare  Market  he  goes 
down  to  Westminster,  and  stands  up  again  in  the  open-air.  "The  Philistines,"  says 
he,  "  were  again  upon  me ;  the  abandoned  of  God  and  man,  like  incarnate  devils 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  255 

raged  and  howled  around ;  however,  I  cried  to  the  infuriated  multitude  to  repent  and 
helieve  the  Gospel,  and,  contrary  to  my  expectation,  I  finished  my  address,  and  retired 
without  suffering  any  injury."  We  may  recall  another  scene,  also  enacted  in  Royal 
Westminster.  While  Clowes  is  leading  a  camp-meeting,  three  men,  whom  a  publican 
had  primed  with  liquor  and  dressed  up  with  horns  and  wings  and  tails,  execute  a  sort 
of  devil's  dance  on  the  camp-ground.  They  yell  and  rush  about  amongst  the  people. 
The  women  scream,  and  for  a  time  the  meeting  is  thrown  into  confusion.  But  the 
preachers  do  not  flinch,  and  their  followers  soon  rally  to  their  support.  Presently,  two 
of  the  masqueraders  slink  away,  while  the  third  and  principal  one — a  gigantic  and 
fearsome  figure  to  look  upon— is  surrounded,  and  sung  and  prayed  over,  till  he  has 
no  spirit  left  in  him.  There  is  something  grotesque  about  this  incident,  but  its  sequel 
was  tragic  enough ;  for,  in  this  case,  as  in  a  similar  one  that  took  place  at  Walworth, 
retribution  speedily  overtook  the  persecuting  buffoons.  The  ringleader  of  the 
Westminster  trio  was  shortly  after  convicted  of  pocket-picking  and  •  hanged  at 
Newgate,  whilst  his  underlings  were  transported  to  Botany  Bay  for  house-breaking. 

Clowes  now  left  London  for  his  mission  in  Cornwall.  He  had  worked  hard  during 
his  twenty  months  of  service,  along  with  such  colleagues  as  J.  Hervey,  G.  Tetley, 
and  especially  John  Nelson,  who,  like  himself,  had  been  extraordinarily  successful  in 
the  North ;  and  yet,  in  September,  1825,  the  combined  membership  of  the  London 
societies  was  but  170.  Well  might  he  sorrowfully  write  :  "I  have  continued  to  labour 
in  conjunction  Avith  my  friends  in  London  day  and  night  for  the  salvation  of  sinners, 
but  the  chariot  rolled  on  slowly  and  heavily."  Still  the  chariot  did  roll  on ;  London 
continued  to  make  some  little  progress,  so  that  in  1826  the  societies  were  formed  into 
an  independent  circuit  which,  for  that  and  the  next  year,  stood  on  the  stations  of  the 
Hull  District.  Then,  as  we  have  seen,  from  1828  to  1834,  London  formed  an  integral 
part  of  the  Norwich  District  and  then  disappears,  to  emerge  in  1842  as  a  branch  of 
Hull.  A  second  crisis  had  occurred,  making  the  friendly  intervention  of  Hull  Circuit 
indispensable.  The  crisis  was  mainly  of  a  financial  character,  as  the  following  extract 
from  the  Journal  of  W.  Clowes  will  show  : — 

"On  February  the  27th  [1835]  I  left  Hull  for  London,  in  order  to  take  the 
broken-down  circuit  of  the  latter  place  once  more  under  the  wing  of  Hull  Circuit- 
The  preachers  stationed  in  London  were  brothers  Oscroft,  Coulson,  and  Bland,  and 
the  number  of  members  was  294.  On  the  Sabbath  after  my  arrival  I  preached 
at  Blue  Gate  Fields ;  and  on  the  Monday,  I  had  to  advance,  on  the  part  of  Hull 
Circuit,  £16  to  pay  the  preachers'  deficient  salaries.  The  chief  of  the  circuit  was 
in  a  state  of  decay,  the  chapel  being  involved  and  most  of  the  places  in  a  shattered 
condition.  After  preaching  several  times,  and  arranging  for  the  taking  of  the 
circuit,  I  returned  to  Hull  to  communicate  the  result  of  my  mission  to  our  March 
Quarterly  Meeting  for  1835." 

John  Flesher  was  sent  to  London  in  1835  to  save  the  situation,  just  as  he  had  been 
sent  to  Edinburgh  in  1830  for  the  like  purpose  It  was  a  magnanimous  act  on  the 
part  of  Hull  Circuit  to  give  up  its  ablest  minister  at  this  crisis;  nor  was  this 
magnanimity  a  merely  transient  impulse,  but  rather  a  well-defined  policy,  dictated 
by  a  consideration  of  what  was  best  for  the  Connexion.  For  a  series  of  years  some 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHUKCH. 

of  the  best  preachers  on  its  staff  were  drafted  to  the  London  work.  The  affairs  of 
Blue  Gate  Fields  Chapel  formed  the  crux  of  the  difficulty  Flesher  was  called  at  once 
to  face.  Its  history  can  soon  be  told.  As  early  as  1825  we  find  a  society  worshipping 
in  New  Gravel  Lane,  in  Shadwell.  The  preaching-room,  which  was  a  loft  over  a  stable, 
was  a  strange  place  for  one  of  the  best  and  most  well-to-do  of  the  London  societies  to 
forgather  in ;  for,  over  and  above  the  disadvantage  of  its  location,  the  odour  of  the 
stable  was  often  unpleasantly  assertive,  and  the  sound  of  the  chaff-cutters  at  work 
below  jarred  on  the  sensibilities  of  the  worshippers.  Yet,  for  some  years,  this  upper 
room  was  the  home  of  a  vigorous  society,  and  a  Bethel  ashore  to  zealous  Primitive 
Methodists  who  sailed  from  North-Eastern  ports.  In  1829,  James  Garner  (1)  began  his 
two  years'  superintendency,  marked  by  peace  and  some  progress.  In  1830,  the  member- 
ship of  Cooper's  Gardens  had  risen  to  76  and  that  of  Shadwell  to  64.  When,  next 
year,  John  Oscroft  succeeded  to  J.  Garner,  it  was  felt  the  time  had  fully  come  to  give 
the  Shadwell  society  more  eligible  headquarters,  and,  in  June,  1832,  Blue  Gate  Fields 
Chapel  was  opened.  The  entire  cost  of  the  undertaking  was  £1300,  a  sum  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  financial  strength  of  the  society.  What  follows  is  the  old  familiar 
story — a  crushing,  dispiriting  debt,  accumulating  arrears  of  interest,  angry  creditors 
becoming  vindictive.  From  the  perusal  of  private  letters  of  the  time  and  the  carefully 
written  minutes  of  the  Trustees'  Meetings,  we  see  John  Flesher  here  and  there  in  the 
Connexion  preaching  and  making  collections  on  behalf  of  Shadwell  Chapel,  while,  in 
London,  his  colleagues  were  begging  almost  from  door  to  door  for  the  same  object. 
Thomas  Watson,  the  popular  boy-preacher,  had  worn  out  three  suits  of  clothes  with 
the  severity  of  this  work ;  and  some  of  Thomas  Katcliffe's  begging  reminiscences  may 
be  read  in  Mr.  Yarrow's  book.*  But,  in  spite  of  all  that  could  be  done,  Blue  Gate 
Fields  Chapel  had,  in  the  end,  to  be  sacrificed.  All,  however,  was  not  lost.  Much 
had  been  gained.  Connexional  honour  was  saved;  the  just  demands  of  creditors  were 
satisfied;  and  the  society,  poor  but  honest,  chastened,  and  wiser  for  the  experience 
of  the  past,  could  face  the  future  with  hope.  Mr.  Yarrow  is  careful  to  inform  us 
that  when,  in  1837,  Blue  Gate  Fields  Chapel  was  sold  for  £500,  the  Connexion  did 
not  own  a  shillings  worth  of  property  in  London.  True,  Cooper's  Gardens  second 
chapel  had  taken  the  place  of  the  dilapidated  structure  already  described.  But  this, 
for  the  time  being,  was  the  private  property  of  John  Friskin,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  and  active  officials  of  the  early  days.  Seeing  clearly  what  was  needed,  he 
had  bought  the  old  building  and  some  of  the  adjoining  property,  and  built  a  chapel 
which  was,  in  every  way,  an  improvement  on  the  old.  This  was  let  to  the  society  at 
a  moderate  rental,  and  subsequently  bought  on  easy  terms.  From  this  it  will  be  seen 
how  comparatively  recent  is  the  material  advance  our  Church  has  made  in  the 
metropolis,  and  how  considerable  and  creditable  to  all  concerned  that  advance  has 
been.  In  1837  the  membership  was  286,  and  the  property  owned  nil.  In  1847  the 
membership  was  700,  and  the  value  of  the  three  Connexional  chapels  then  owned 

*  Yarrow's  "  History,"  pp.  53 — 215.  Our  authority  for  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  three  suits  of 
clothes  is  the  following  resolution  of  the  Trustees'  Meeting :  — "  That  the  £4  entered  in  the  Account 
Book  as  a  present  to  Thomas  Watson  while  begging,  be  granted ;  as  he  wore  out  three  suits  of 
clothes  while  begging." 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


257 


was  .£2500.     Xow,  in  1904,  there  are  9827   members,  115  chapels,  and  the  value  of 
the  Church  property  is  £284, 308. 

After  the  loss  of  Blue  Gate  Fields  Chapel  the  society  found  a  temporary  lodgment 
in  Ratcliffe  Highway,  worshipping  in  a  room  that  could  only  be  reached  by  an  almost 
perpendicular  ladder.  Interesting  is  this  resolution  in  the  old  Minute  Book,  written 
August  9th,  1838  :  "That  we  approve  of  Brother  Flesher's  having  purchased  the  lease 
of  a  house  and  ground  on  which  to  build  a  chapel,  in  Crane  Yard,  Sutton  Street, 
Commercial  Road."  Then  follow  other  resolutions  which  show  that  much  was  expected 
of  Brother  Flesher.  He  was  to  "  purchase  bricks,  timber,  and  other  requisites  for  the 
building  of  the  chapel " ;  to  superintend  the  erection  "  in  all  its  branches,"  and  borrow 
the  money  necessary  to  complete  the  building.  If  tradition  be  trustworthy,  Mr.  Flesher 

did  even  more  than  was  expected  of  him, 
for  occasionally  he  might  have  been  seen 
dressed  as  a  navvy,  wheeling  barrows  of 
earth  for  the  foundation.  On  Tuesday, 
August  14th,  1838,  the  sermon  in  con- 
nection with  the  foundation-stone  laying  was 
preached  by  John  Stamp,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  at  this  time  on  London's 
Sheerness  Mission,  which  next  year  obtained 
circuit  independence.  1835-7  was  the 
turning-point  of  our  Connexional  fortunes 
in  London.  From  the  time  John  Flesher 
took  the  helm  of  the  labouring  ship  it 
righted  itself  and  made  headway.  The  story 
of  the  passing  of  the  crisis,  as  revealed  in 
these  old  letters  and  documents,  is  of  more 
than  local  interest.  It  suggests  that  there 
was  a  side  to  the  ministry  and  character  of 
John  Flesher  that  we  have  scarcely  seen  the 
importance  of.  We  have  thought  of  him 
as  the  Chrysostom  of  the  Connexion,  "one 
of  England's  untitled  noblemen,"  the  accom- 
plished editor,  the  hymnist;  but  it  gives 
us  a  sort  of  shock  to  see  him  absorbed  in 
such  salvage  work  as  fell  to  his  lot]  in  Edinburgh  and  London.  Could  the  Connexion 
find  no  more  fitting  work  than  this  for  John  Flesher  to  do  1  It  may  tend  to  allay  what 
we  regard  as  our  justifiable  heat  to  learn  that  the  real  John  Flesher  was  essentially 
a  man  of  affairs — a  man  big  enough  for  large  affairs,  and  not  too  big  to  find  delight 
in  small  details.  Had  he  not,  unfortunately,  destroyed  his  papers,  abundant  evidence 
would  have  remained  to  make  this  fact  one  of  the  commonplaces  of  our  history. 
But  it  is  not  too  late  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  what  he  did  for  the  Connexion ;  for, 
in  recent  years,  from  various  quarters,  letters  and  documents  have  come  to  hand  which 
conclusively  prove  that,  from  1830  to  1850,  John  Flesher  was  one  of  the  busiest 

B 


MK.    AND    MRS.    FLESHER   IN    LATER   LIFE. 


258 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


and  most  influential  men  in  our  Church-life.  He  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
connexional  affairs,  and  held  the  threads  of  many  of  them  in  his  hand.  He  was  the 
confidant  of  William  Clowes,  W.  Garner,  W.  Sanderson,  T.  Holliday,  and  other  men 
of  like  age  and  standing,  and  he  was  looked  up  to  by  the  younger  men  who  were 
afterwards  to  have  the  guidance  of  affairs.  In  his  person  were  represented  the  ideals 
and  strivings  of  a  wider,  more  liberal  connexionalism.  In  short,  we  make  bold  to  say, 
that  John  Flesher  was  the  man  of  the  transition  period  which  culminated  in  1843, 
but  which  had  begun  ten  years  before.  "  When  any  difficulty  arose  he  was  sent  for. 
Often  John  would  leave  me  after  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  I  did  not  see  much  more 


FOBEST    MOOR    HOUSE. 


of  him  until  the  next."  So  said  his  faithful,  self-sacrificing  wife.  On  his  retirement, 
he  could  claim  that,  "  whilst  it  was  never  my  policy  to  start  divisions  and  disturbances, 
it  was  often  my  work  to  have  to  allay  them  when  raging,  and  to  deprive  them,  to 
a  certain  extent,  of  the  power  of  a  resurrection."*  As  by  common  consent,  when  the 
denomination  or  its  ministers  was  defamed  in  the  public  press,  the  task  of  vindication 
was  left  to  John  Flesher.  So,  to  name  but  one  instance  out  of  many,  he  had  to  defend 
the  Connexion  against  misrepresentation  in  what  it  may  suffice  to  call  the  Stamp  Affair, 
and  no  little  obloquy  did  he  incur  by  so  doing.  To  him,  more  than  to  any  other  single 
man,  was  due  the  epoch-making  events  of  the  transference  of  the  Book-Room  from 

*  Quoted  from  J.  Flesher's  Letter  of  Application  for  Superannuation,  1852. 


THE   PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


259 


HEAR  KMABESBOBOL'CH.  JULY  I6--.I8T4, 
IK  THE   T3«»   YCAR  OF  HI*  ACE. 


Bemersley  to  London,  and  the  establishment  of  the  General  Missionary  Committee. 
To  him,  also,  was  owing  the  improvement  of  our  serials,  by  giving  them  a  wider  out- 
look and  a  more  literary  form.  The  characteristics  of  the  man — his  lawyer-like  mind, 
and  his  fond,  almost  finical  handling  of  details,  reveal  themselves  in  his  very  original 
Consolidation  of  the  Minutes  (published  1850).  Because  he  had  done  many  things 
so  well,  it  was  thought  he  was  just  the  man  to  prepare  the  Hymn-Book  that  was 
wanted ;  and  here  he  was  misjudged.  But  one  failure  leaves  untouched  the  essential 
greatness  of  the  man  and  the  value  of  the  work  he  did.  The  policy  John  Flesher  had 
worked  for,  and  which  he  lived  to  initiate,  will  come  under  our  notice  again,  but  we 
may  briefly  set  down  here  the  main  facts  in  his  personal  history  which  yet  remain  to 
be  told.  Even  when,  in  1842,  he  entered  upon  his  editorial  duties,  there  were  already 

premonitions  of  a  physical  breakdown. 
The  throat-trouble  had  begun  to  show 
itself  which,  with  its  complications,  was 
to  disqualify  him  for  all  public  work. 
His  affliction  deepened  so  that,  in  1852, 
he  sought  superannuation.  He  retired 
to  Scarborough,  afterwards  to  Easing- 
wold,  then  to  Harrogate;  and  finally, 
1  laving  sequestered  himself  at  Forest 
Moor  House,  between  Knaresborough 
and  Harrogate,  he  passed  away,  beloved 
and  revered,  July  16th,  1874,  and  his 
remains  were  laid  in  the  Harrogate 
Cemetery.  It  is  a  coincidence  that 
John  Flesher  and  W.  Sanderson  should 
both  have  been  superannuated  and 
have  died  in  the  same  year;  yet  more 
striking,  that  our  two  most  eloquent 
preachers  of  the  early  period  should  both 
have  been  smitten  by  disease  in  such  a 
way  as  "  made  their  music  mute." 

The  plan  of  the  London  Mission  for 
1847  is  now  before  us.  When  this  plan 
was  printed  Primitive  Methodism  had 
been  introduced  into  the  metropolis 
just  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  plan  in  question  shows  some  eighteen  preaching-stations, 
including  places  as  far  removed  from  each  other  as  Brentford  and  Acton  on  the  west, 
and  Woolwich  on  the  south-east.  Of  the  three  Connexional  chapels  on  the  Mission — 
Cooper's  Gardens,  Sutton  Street,  and  Grove  Mews,  the  precursor  of  Seymour  Place, 
Marylebone — Cooper's  Gardens  stands  first  in  order,  as  it  was  first  in  numerical  strength, 
having  a  membership  of  260,  while  Sutton  Street  comes  next  with  211.  Both  before 
and  after  1847,  Cooper's  Gardens  enjoyed  considerable  prosperity.  Joel  Hodgson,  who 
laboured  in  London  about  this  time,  speaks  of  it  as  a  veritable  "converting  furnace." 

R2 


MURAL  TABLET   TO   REV.    J.    FLESHER 
IN    HARROGATE   PRIMITIVE   METHODIST  CHAPEL. 


2GO  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

The  chapel  was  often  too  small  to  hold  even  the  members  who  sought  to  attend,  so 
that  an  overflow  congregation  was  held  in  the  schoolroom.  To  supply  the  additional 
accommodation  so  urgently  needed,  the  third  Cooper's  Gardens  Chapel  was  opened 
in  1852.  The  same  year  Parkinson  Milson  began  his  two  years'  memorable  ministry 
in  London.  At  the  close  of  a  hard  Sunday's  labour  in  connection  with  a  series  of 
Protracted  Meetings,  when  "fourteen  persons  found  salvation,"  he  notes  in  his  diary: 
"  There  are  some  blessed  and  mighty  local  brethren  here."  The  "  Breakfast  Meeting," 
which  stands  at  the  bottom  of  this  plan  of  1847,  was  a  notable  institution  of  Cooper's 
Gardens,  and  one,  so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends,  unique  in  the  Connexion.  The 
local  preachers  on  duty — as  most  of  them  usually  were  on  the  Sunday — assembled  at 
eight  o'clock,  and  after  breakfasting  together  and  discussing  some  topic  or  other 
separated  to  go,  two  and  two,  to  their  various  and  often  distant  appointments. 

Caere  Street,  Broadway,  Westminster,  is  the  third  place  on  the  plan.  Ever  since 
the  days  of  Clowes'  mission  we  had  been  at  work  somewhere  or  other  in  this  district, 
where  Wesleyan  Methodism  has  at  last  got  a  splendid  denominational  centre.  We  say, 
"  somewhere  or  other  in  Westminster,"  for  a  glance  over  the  plans  for  successive  years 
will  show  that  this  west-end  society  had  flitted  from  street  to  street  and  room  to  room 
in  an  extraordinary  manner.  For  more  than  half  a  century  we  clung  tenaciously  to 
Westminster,  but  were  compelled  at  last  to  abandon  it ;  and  now,  alas !  the  Connexion 
has  no  footing  in  this  wide  and  densely-populated  district. 

A  word  must  be  written  of  Elim  Chapel,  Fetter  Lane,  which  stands  on  the  plan 
after  Sophia  Street,  Poplar.  For  some  time  services  had  been  held  in  various  places 
in  the  centre  of  London,  viz.,  Gee  Street,  Whitecross  Street,  Onslow  Street,  then  in 
Castle  Street  Chapel,  Clerkenwell.  When,  in  order  to  carry  out  city  improvements, 
the  chapel  in  Castle  Street  was  scheduled  for  demolition,  the  society  acquired 
a  disused  Baptist  chapel  in  Fetter  Lane,  off  Holborn.  This  was  "  Elim "  Chapel, 
which  in  its  day  had  had  some  notable  ministers.  At  the  time  of  its  acquisition — 
1845,  the  idea  seems  to  have  been  entertained  of  subsequently  making  this  very 
centrally-situated  building  connexional  property,  but,  in  the  end,  this  was  not  deemed 
advisable,  and  the  chapel  was  vacated  in  the  'Seventies,  some 
little  time  before  the  expiry  of  the  lease. 

In  this  same  year,  1847,  George  Austin,  fresh  from  his 
experiences  of  the  Irish  Famine,  began  his  lirst  ministerial 
term  of  service  in  London,  which  extended  to  six  years.  His 
coming  was  signalised  by  the  formation  of  some  of  the  western 
societies — Brentford,  Hammersmith,  etc. — into  a  mission,  taken 
charge  of  by  the  General  Missionary  Committee ;  while  the  rest 
of  the  societies  were  formed  into  the  London  Circuit.  When, 
in  1853,  the  London  District  was  created,  the  three  chapels  we 
,  have  described — Cooper's  Gardens,  Elim,  and  Sutton  Street,  be- 
came the  heads  of  the  three  London  Circuits  called,  respectively, 
London  First,  Second,  and  Third. 

Further  developments  of  our  London  Circuits  we  do  not  follow  at  present.     It  only- 
remains  that  mention  be  made  of  some  of  those  who,  for  one  reason  or  other,  have 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


261 


JOHN   FRISKIN. 


special  claim  to  remembrance.  John  Friskin,  though  not  a  local  preacher,  was  un- 
questionably the  best-known  London  layman  of  the  first  period.  J.  Booth,  whose 
name  heads  the  list  of  local  preachers  on  the  plan  of.  1834,  came  from  Derbyshire  in 
1826.  What  kind  of  man  he  was  may  be  inferred  from  a  sentence  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  his  mother :  "  I  have  worn  my  coat  longer  than  is  respectable 
but  I  must  help  the  cause."  It  was  a  loss  to  London  Primitive 
Methodism  when,  in  1848,  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States; 
but  he  at  once  joined  our  Church  in  Brooklyn,  and  served  its 
interests  many  years.  Jane  Phelps,  of  Shadwell,  whose  name 
stands  next  to  John  Booth's,  was,  from  1839  to  1842,  a 
travelling  preacher  in  the  Hull  District.  Mrs.  Maynard  and 
Mrs.  Jane  Gordon  were  also  notable  women  of  the  early  days. 
Ever  since  the  former  was  converted  under  the  wooden  chandelier 
of  Cooper's  Gardens  in  1827,  Maynard  has  been  a  name  familiar 
to  our  London  societies.  Her  eldest  son,  Thomas  Maynard,  was 
a  useful  local  preacher  until  he,  too,  in  1849,  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and 
united  with  the  Brooklyn  church.  Mr.  C.  R.  Maynard,  of  the  Stoke  Newington 
Circuit,  is  the  present-day  representative  of  the  old  name. 

When  last  we  saw  Mrs.  Gordon  it  was  at  Filey.*  She  came  to  London  in  1839, 
and  was  closely  associated  with  Sutton  Street  until  her  death  in  1869.  Though 
a  class-leader  and  an  occasional  preacher,  she  is  best  remembered  as  the  champion 
Missionary  Collector.  From  the  Missionary  Eeports  of  a  long  series  of  years,  any  one 
who  cares  may  ascertain  the  gross  sum  she  collected  for  missionary  purposes ;  but  who 
shall  tell  the  miles  she  walked,  or  the  amount  of  physical  labour  she  expended? 
Sometimes  the  canvasser  or  collector  is  the  less  respected  the  more  he  is  known;  but 
not  so  Mrs.  Gordon.  City  magnates  did  not  count  her  annual  visit  an  unwelcome 
intrusion.  She  had  none  of  the ,  ways  of  the  importunate  beggar ;  rather,  there  was 
that  about  her  which  suggested  she  was  on  some  high  mission  it  would  be  an  honour 
to  have  anything  to  do  with.  Attired  in  old  Methodist  fashion, 
and  with  a  Christian  calmness  and  dignity  all  her  own,  she  was 
an  impressive  figure  as  she  went  about  the  disinterested  work 
which  more  and  more  became  her  chief  business. 

The  honour  of  starting  the  first  Primitive  Methodist  Sunday- 
School  in  London  belongs  to  John  Heaps — a  youth  in  his  teens. 
The  school  was  begun  in  Baker's  Rents,  in  Hackney  Road,  in  1832, 
and  carried  on  there  until  accommodation  was  provided  for  it  in 
Cooper's  Gardens  in  1835.  When  the  young  man  had  seen  this 
school  established,  it  is  said  he  set  his  heart  upon  doing  the 
same  thing  for  Westminster,  and  that,  to  accomplish  this,  he  cheer- 
fully walked  Sunday  by  Sunday  from  Hackney  to  Westminster, 
and  back  again.  The  life  of  this  young  Christian  endeavourer  was,  alas  !  very  brief, 
but  he  did  good  sowing.  John  Phillips,  a  watchman  at  St.  Katharine's  Docks,  in 


MRS.    GORDON. 


*  Vol.  ii.  p.  106. 


262  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST    CHURCH. 

conjunction  with  F.  Salter,  began  a  Sunday  School  in  the  vestry  of  Blue  Gate  Fields 
Chapel  in  November,  1832.  Phillips  was  a  diligent  visitor  of  the  sick,  especially  of 
the  victims  of  cholera  and  fever.  He  died  in  1857. 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  James  Wood,  given  in  the  text,  links  us  with  the  past;  for,  as 
a  youth,  he  joined  the  Cooper's  Gardens  society  as  far  back  as 
1839.  He  was  soon  put  on  the  plan  and  was  a  frequent  fellow- 
labourer  in  mission-work  with  John  Wilson,  who  came  out  of 
Staffordshire  in  1837.  Wilson  was  not  easily  daunted,  or  else 
he  would  not,  after  having  for  two  Sundays  sought  in  vain  for 
the  Primitive  Methodists  about  Covent  Gardens  (the  address  his 
minister  had  given  him),  have  persevered  in  his  search  till  he  had 
ferreted  them  out  in  Cooper's  Gardens.  No  doubt  it  was  the  zeal 
and  aptitude  displayed  by  John  Wilson  during  the  years  he  was 
in  London  that  led  to  his  designation,  in  the  Minutes  of  1873, 
as  "  Lay  Missionary,"  working  under  the  direction  of  the  General 
Missionary  Committee.  James  Wood  who,  as  we  have  said,  was 

frequently  his  comrade,  has  been  equally  at  home  in  the  pulpit  or  the  business 
meeting,  at  the  street-corner,  or  taking  part  in  the  discussions  of  the  Sunday  morning 
breakfast  meetings.  He  represents  the  history  of  our  Church  in  the  metropolis  for 
the  last  sixty  years;  for  he  still  survives,  and  although  he  has  lost  his  sight  and  his 
old-time  vigour,  he  has  not  lost  his  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  Church  of  his 
early  choice. 

The  claims  of  Thomas  Church  and  W.  H.  Yarrow  to  special  recognition  chiefly  rest 
on  what  they  did  in  the  way  of  authorship.  Edward  Church,  the  father  of  the 
first-named,  was  one  of  the  fruits  of  London  street-missioning.  A  back-slidden 
Methodist  official,  he  was  reclaimed  as  the  result  of  an  open-air  service,  held  near 
Whitecross  Street  prison,  by  John  Oscroft  in  1831.  He  at  once  joined  the  Cooper's 
Gardens  society,  though  he  afterwards  identified  himself  wich  Elim.  His  son,  Thomas, 
received  his  first  ticket  of  membership  in  1841,  and  though,  in  his  later  years,  he 
•was  unknown  to  our  churches,  yet  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  was  a  prominent 
figure,  and  both  by  voice  and  pen  did  his  best  to  further  the  interests  of  Primitive 
Methodism.  He  wielded  a  "  versatile  and  subtle  pen,"  and  as-  he  took  part  in  most 
of  the  denominational  movements  and  controversies  of  his  time,  he  came  in  for  a  full 
share  of  the  hard  knocks  that  paper  controversialists  usually  get.*  When  the  much 
needed  Primitive  Methodist  Bibliography  comes  to  be  prepared,  it  will  be  seen  that 

* "  Versatile  and  subtle  pen,"  are  T.  Bateman's  words,  occurring  in  a  caustic  letter  which 
appeared  in  the  Wesleyan  Times  of  August  29th,  1866.  On  the  publication  of  the  Conference 
Minutes,  a  lively  discussion  arose  on  the  Conference  Address,  prepared  by  Rev.  W.  (afterwards  Dr.) 
Antliff.  In  this  discussion  Messrs.  Bateman  and  Church  were  on  opposite  sides.  T.  Church  had 
signed  himself  "A  General  Committeeman,"  whereupon  he  is  exhorted  "to  calmness  and  propriety 
of  speech  and  writing,  and  a  manifestation  of  all  the  qualifications,  mental  and  spiritual,  which  are 
expected  to  adorn  the  character  and  conduct  of  every  member  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  General 
Committee."  Seven  distinct  publications  of  Thomas  Church  are  known  to  us,  the  most  important 
of  which  bear  the  titles,  "  Popular  Sketches  of  Primitive  Methodism :  being  a  Link  in  the  Chain 
of  Ecclesiastical  History"  (1850),  351  pp.;  and  "A  History  of  the  Primitive  Methodists." 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


263 


—   •"     iCALEDOMIAN  RD 


264 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


Thomas  Church  was  about  the  first,  and  certainly  the  most  prolific,  of  our  lay  authors, 
and  he  must  have  an  early  place  amongst  those  who  have  attempted  to  write  the  general 
History  of  our  Church.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  he  was  the  projector  of  the 
first  newspaper  that  has  borne  the  denominational  name — "  The  Primitive  Methodist 
Advocate." 

Mr.  Yarrow  was  a  man  of  more  sober  and  more  reliable  type — an  excellent  preacher, 
and  one  of  the  founders  in  1850  of  Philip  Street,  Hoxton.  The  esteem  in  which  lie 
was  held,  and  his  repute  as  a  preacher,  led  to  his  being  invited  to  become  the  minister 
of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church  of  Shenandoah,  U.  S.  A.  The  invitation  was 
accepted,  and  he  sailed  in  1876,  but  not  before  he  had  prepared  for  the  press  his  well- 
known  and  valuable  "  History  of  Primitive 
Methodism  in  London" — a  book  which  it 
would  be  well  if  some  competent  hand 
would  bring  down  to  the  present  time 
and  re-issue. 

No  pretence  is  here  made  that  we  have 
mentioned  all  those  to  whom  it  was  chiefly 
owing  that  the  London  Mission  had,  by 
1853,  become  three  circuits.  By  no  means. 
Oiher  names  of  early  workers  might  easily 
be  recalled  who  each  contributed  his  quota 
towards  the  common  result — such  names  as 
Hawksworth,  Chapman,  Beswick,  Garrud, 
Hensey,  Hurcomb,  Martin,  Kemp,  Cranson, 
and  Wesson.  But  what  has  been  said  must 
suffice  for  the  present ;  only,  as  showing 
that  1853  was  but  the  starting-point  of 
fresh  developments,  we  give  the  portrait 
of  Peter  Thompson,  a  Primitive  Methodist 
navvy  from  Witney,  who  that  year  missioned 
Canning  Town.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  C.  G.  Honor,  who  entered  the  ministry 
in  1854,  was  one  of  the  small  band  of 
missioners,  and  that,  after  experiencing  some 
rough  handling  by  the  mob,  Peter  and  he 
were  marched  off  to  Poplar  Police  Station.  John  Rackham,  converted  at  Cooper's 
Gardens  in  1842,  had  then  already  entered  the  ministry;  and  John  Wenn,  a  local 
preacher  on  the  station,  began  his  honourable  course  by  becoming,  in  1853,  the  additionnl 
preacher  on  the  newly-formed  London  Third  station. 

We  shall  have  to  return  to  glance  at  the  later  and,  it  may  be  added,  the  creditable 
advance  of  our  Church  in  London,  especially  as  regards  the  multiplication  of  chapels. 
In  the  meantime,  the  page  of  views  here  given  as  an  instalment  will,  in  part,  prepare 
us  to  recognise  how  great  has  been  the  material  advance  made  in  recent  years. 


I'ETEK  THOMPSON. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE   AND   ENTERPRISE.  265 


CHAPTER   XX. 

LIVERPOOL   CIRCUIT, 

AXD  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  SOME  CIRCUITS  OF  THE  LIVERPOOL   I>ISTRICT. 

have  already  glanced  at  the  "origins"  and  subsequent  development  (as  far 
as  1842)  of  the  circuits  comprised  in  the  Manchester  District  that  was 
formed  in  1827.  One  circuit  only,  then  standing  on  the  stations  of  that 
District,  has  been  reserved  for  notice  at  this  point — Liverpool.  It  is  due 
to  a  city  which  by  its  geographical  situation  .and  national  importance  was,  we  may 
say,  predestined  to  become,  and  actually  has  become,  the  head  of  a  District,  that  we 
should  present  what  little  can  be  gleaned  respecting  the  beginnings  of  our  Church 
within  its  wide  area — beginnings  small  and  feeble  at  first,  but  which  have  now  happily 
attained  goodly  dimensions.  We  have  just  told  the  story  of  the  early  struggles  of 
Primitive  Methodism  to  gain  a  footing  in  London — the. most  populous  city  of  the 
world :  it  does  not  seem  unfitting  now,  therefore,  that  we  should  do  the  same  for  the 
second  largest  city  of  England,  more  especially  as  the  history  of  our  Church  in  both 
cities  presents  certain  points  of  analogy.  Each  was  visited  by  a  founder  and  leading 
missionary,  before  a  cause  was  permanently  established.  In  both,  the  cause  was 
introduced  about  the  same  time,  and,  still  more  noteworthy,  both  have  made  up  by 
their  later  development  for  the  comparative  slowness  of  their  growth  in  the  early 
period.  We  have  already  tracked  the  course  of  our  Connexional  aggressive  move- 
ment from  Yorkshire  and  the  Humber  till,  by  way  of  the  Eastern  Counties,  it  converged 
on  the  metropolis.  It  now  remains,  in  some  succeeding  chapters,  to  show  how  a 
similar  process  went  on  in  the  West ;  how  from  the  Mersey  and  Dee  and  Severn  our 
missionaries  at  last  reached  what  we  know  as  the  home-counties,  and  the  very  suburbs 
of  London.  As  John  Smith  (1),  a  Burland  man,  became,  in  Thomas  Bateman's 
phrase,  the  "bishop  of  Norfolk,"  and  found  his  way  to  Blue  Gate  Fields,  in  attending 
a  Norwich  District  Meeting ;  so  John  Ride,  whom  Burland  sent  to  mission  Liverpool, 
became  the  Apostle  of  Wiltshire,  and  lived  to  become  the  successful  superintendent 
of  Cooper's  Gardens.  The  movement  rovinds  itself  off  to  completeness. 

Besides  Liverpool,  other  contiguous  places,  which  were  early  reached  by  our  Church, 
and  have  had  some  interesting  passages  in  their  history,  may  be  shortly  glanced 
at.  As  circuits  attached  to  Liverpool  District  they  may  be  of  late  origin,  but  their 
beginnings  carry  us  back  almost  to  the  beginnings  of  the  Connexion.  Of  these 
Ellesmere  Port  and  Buckley  may  be  taken  as  examples. 

LIVERPOOL. 

Clowes'  clear  ringing  voice  was  heard  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  streets  of  Liverpool 
as  early  as  1812.  He  was  on  a  visit  at  the  time,  just  as  he  was  on  a  visit  to  Newcastle 
when  he  preached  there,  and  also  in  North  Shields,  in  the  autumn  of  1821.  The 


266  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

Liverpool  visit  was  paid  to  Charles  Mathers,  a  Burslem  potter,  who  had  been  Clowes 
fellow-workman  in  Hull  and  his  pal  in  wickedness.  Mathers  had  afterwards  removed 
to  Liverpool  and,  while  working  at  the  Herculaneum  Pottery,  had  come  under  powerful 
religious  impressions  that  were  deepened  by  the  tragically  sudden  death  by  drowning, 
in  1811,  of  T.  Spencer,  the  gifted  young  Independent  minister.  He  united  with  the 
Wesleyan  Methodists,  but  rather  as  a  seeker  than  as  one  who  had  found  salvation- 
Sick  of  soul,  he  bethought  him  of  his  old  companion  who  had  experienced  the  great 
change.  He  said  within  himself :  "  If  only  I  can  see  Clowes,  he  will  tell  me  how  he 
found  peace,  and  how  I  too  may  find  it."  Thus  motived  he  set  out  to  walk  to 
Staffordshire,  and  the  first  day  got  as  far  as  Knutsford,  where  he  stopped  at  an  kin  for 
the  night.  While  at  prayer  in  his  bedroom  "  the  Lord  appeared  in  power,  loosed  him 
from  his  guilty  chains,  and  set  him  free.  He  then  was  convinced  that  the  Lord  could 
convert  souls  without  William  Clowes."  Mathers  now  travelled  on  to  Staffordshire 
with  a  buoyant  heart,  telling  people  on  the  road  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  him. 
"  When  we  met  together,"  says  Clowes,  "  we  were  glad,  and,  some  time  after,  I  spent 
a  week  with  him  and  his  wife";  and  it  was  during  this  visit  that  Clowes  preached 
at  Liverpool,  "  near  the  theatre,"  and  also  at  Euncorn.  From  the  fact  that  Mather's 
memoir  was  written  by  Clones,  we  may  fairly  infer  that  he  died  in  1819  a  Primitive 
Methodist ;  but  as  the  memoir  is  silent  as  to  where  he  died,  we  cannot  be  sure  that 
he  died  a  Liverpool  Primitive  Methodist. 

The  next  event  connected  with  Liverpool's  origin  known  to  us,  is  John  Ride's 
arrest  for  street-preaching,  and  his  speedy  release  through  the  alleged  intervention 
of  Dr.  A.  Clarke.  The  date  of  this  incident  may  approximately  be  fixed  as  March 
or  April,  1821 ;  for,  Thomas  Bateinan  tells  us,  it  was  the  March  quarterly  meeting 
of  Burland  Branch  which  sent  John  Ride  on  his  mission,  which  embraced  "the  city 
of  Chester,  the  town  of  Wrexham,  several  growing  places  in  Wirral,  and  the  great 
town  of  Liverpool  at  the  end  of  them." 

Next,  we  have  the  published  recollections  of  Mr.  Henry  Howard — one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  first  society-class  formed  in  Liverpool — by  the  help  of  which 
the  story  is  carried  a  stage  further.*  According  to  Mr.  Howard,  on  a  certain  day — 
probably  May  31st,  1821,  a  young  man,  plainly  attired,  might  have  been  seen  trying 
to  escape  from  a  number  of  persons  who  were  following  him  and  pelting  him  with 
mud.  He  and  his  assailants  had  just  landed  from  the  packet  plying  between  Runcorn 
and  Liverpool.  The  young  man  was  James  Roles,  the  Preston  Brook  preacher,  and 
this  was  how  he  came  to  the  Liverpool  mission.  He  had  been  redeeming  the  time 
by  preaching  to  his  fellow-passengers,  and  some  of  them  were  now  in  this  fashion 
requiting  him  for  his  well-meant  efforts.  The  young  man's  plight  was  observed  by  the 
proprietor  of  an  hotel  which  stood  near  the  landing-stage.  The  preacher  was  invited 
to  enter ;  his  clothes  were  cleaned,  and  he  was  urged  to  remain  until  he  could  leave 
with  safety.  Mr.  Roles  stayed  three  days  with  his  hospitable  entertainers,  who  after- 
wards declined  all  remuneration,  and  then  found  lodgings  with  Mrs.  Bentley  in 
Westmoreland  Street,  where  the  first  class  was  afterwards  formed.  Mr.  Howard 
further  states  that  on  Sunday,  June  3rd,  he  heard  James  Roles  preach  at  the  top 

*  "  Primitive  Methodist  Jubilee  Report,  January  29th,  1872."    Drawn  up  by  Rev.  W.  Wilkinson. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  267 

of  Gascoyne  Street,  Vauxhall  Road,  in  the  morning,  and  at  six  p.m.  in  Gal  ton  Street, 
Great  Howard  Street ;  and  that  he  heard  him  again  on  the  Sunday  following.  Then 
J.  Platt,  a  native  of  Faddiley  in  Burland  Branch,  took  the  place  of  J.  Roles,  and,  on 
June  17th,  a  class  of  seven  members  was  formed.  The  small  society  took  and  fitted 
up  a  room  in  Upper  Dawson  Street,  behind  St.  John's  Market,  which  was  opened  by 
one  Jane  Gordon.*  So  far  Mr.  Howard,  whose  statements  must  be  harmonised — and 
probably  are  harmonisable — with  a  couple  of  entries  found  in  Thomas  Bateman's 
Journal  of  a  little  later  date.  On  October  2nd,  1821,  he  writes:  "We  have  opened 
Liverpool,  but  it  is  too  far  away ;  we  cannot  work  it  as  we  ought  So  we  are  taking 
steps  to  get  the  Preston  Brook  Circuit  to  join  us — for  them  to  take  it  one  fortnight 
and  we  another."  The  arrangement  thus  foreshadowed  did,  in  fact,  obtain  between 
Michaelmas  and  Christmas,  and  so  on  January  27th  of  the  following  year,  Thomas 
Bateman  writes  again :  "  "We  have  given  up  Liverpool  to  Preston  Brook,  our  hands 
being  too  full,  and  so  many  more  wanting  us.  But,  alas !  for  Liverpool.  I  fear  it 
won't  be  worked  very  well."  He  intimates  that  Burland  Avas  the  more  reconciled  to 
surrender  Liverpool  because  James  Bonsor,  "  that  successful  missionary,"  was  at 
Christmas  appointed  to  Liverpool.  He  arrived  on  January  12th,  but,  if  we  may 
judge  by  his  Journal  in  the  Magazine,  he  remained  there  only  three  weeks,  then 
moving  on  to  Chester.  Still,  while  he  was  in  Liverpool  he  worked  hard,  as  he  had  done 
in  Manchester  and,  indeed,  as  he  invariably  did.  His  Sundays  especially  were  crowded 
with  services  of  one  kind  or  another — indoors  and  out-of-doors.  He  speaks  of  having 
joined  six  members  at  one  service,  and  of  having  witnessed  many  conversions.  In 
March,  John  Abey  and  Sarah  Spittle  were  appointed,  and  between  the  Conferences 
of  1823  and  1824,  Liverpool  was  made  a  circuit,  and  its  name  duly  appears  on  the 
stations  for  the  latter  year,  with  Paul  Sugden  and  S.  Spittle  as  its  preachers. 

The  chapel  which  James  Bonsor  more  than  once  refers  to  was  possibly  old 
Maguire  Street,  since  Mr.  Howard  tells  us  that  this  was  occupied,  conjointly  with 
the  Swedenborgians,  at  the  close  of  1821  or  beginning  of  1822.  The  Primitives 
had  the  use  of  it  at  9  a.m.  and  6  p.m.,  and  the  Swedenborgians  took  their  turn  at 
10.30  and  in  the  afternoon.  This  singular  arrangement,  though  the  result  of  a  friendly 
agreement,  ended  as  it  might  be  expected  to  end.  The  sequel  of  the  joint  occupancy 
reminds  us  of  the  cuckoo  in  the  hedge-sparrow's  nest.  The  Primitives  grew  and  the 
Swedenborgians  did  not ;  and  in  1823  they  vacated  the  building,  and  left  the  more 
vigorous  section  in  sole  possession.  It  was  held  on  rent  until  1828,  and  then  purchased 
for  £600  and  retained  until  1864.  Thus  Maguire  Street  must  be  added  to  the  long 
list  of  plain  old-fashioned  chapels,  of  which  Cooper's  Gardens  was  the  latest  example, 
which,  during  the  early  years,  played  so  large  a  part  in  the  life  of  our  churches  in 
the  large  towns.  We  have  no  picture  of  Maguire  Street  to  present  to  our  readers, 
but  in  lieu  of  it  we  have  a  description  given  by  one  who  knew  it  well : — 

"  Externally  there  was  nothing  but  a  dark  gable-end,  with  a  dwelling-house  on 
each  side,  which  formed  part  of  the  front,  and  not  in  the  least  detached.  A  door, 
level  with  the  street,  led  into  a  passage  between  the  houses,  and  running  their 

*  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  person  was  not  Mrs.  Jane  Gordon,  of  Filey,  who  was 
not  converted  until  1823. 


268  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

depth  ;  at  the  end  of  which,  on  the  ground-floor,  was  a  large  room  used  for  Sunday 
School  and  other  purposes.  On  each  side,  at  the  end  of  the  passage,  was  a  flight 
of  stone  steps  leading  to  the  chapel.  Internally  there  was  nothing  to  alter  my 
estimate  of  our  position  in  this  large  and  wealthy  community.  A  few  rows  of 
pews  and  forms  in  the  centre  of  the  floor,  and  a  single  row  of  three  pews  fixed 
lengthwise  to  the  wall  on  either  side,  made  up  the  accommodation  below  ;  while 
a  gallery  crossing  the  end  of  the  chapel,  and  reached  by  a  flight  of  stairs,  to  be 
seen  when  you  had  ascended  from  the  passage  on  the  right-hand  side,  afforded 
all  the  accommodation  above.  A  large  dome-like  window  in  the  roof,  and  two 
large  circular-headed  windows,  looking  into  some  crowded  courts  behind,  afforded 
all  the  light  admitted  into  the  place.  The  pulpit,  fixed  against  the  wall  between 
the  long  windows,  faced  you  as  you  entered.  The  singers  occupied  the  space  on 
the  left  of  the  preacher,  the  pulpit-stairs  that  on  his  right."  * 

The  situation  of  the  chapel  had  little  to  commend  it,  nor  were  its  approaches  at 
all  prepossessing.  The  opening  of  the  new  docks  had  changed  the  character  of 
Vauxhall  Road  and  the  streets  branching  from  it,  much  for  the  worse.  There  was 
a  large  Irish  element  in  the  population  of  the  district,  and  legalised  drunkeries 
abounded,  so  that  those  who  would  worship  in  Maguire  Street  had  often  to  run  the 
gauntlet  of  unseemly  sights  and  brawls.  But,  despite  these  drawbacks,  there  is  evidence 
to  show  that  the  old  building  could  inspire  warm  affection  in  those  whose  "due  feet "  did 
not  fail  to  attend  its  ordinances.  "  Friends,"  said  Samuel  Atterby  (who  travelled  here 
in  1841-3),  "if  it  should  please  God  to  end  my  period  of  work  while  in  this  circuit, 
let  me  be  buried  in  this  '  Glory  hole.'  I  can  ask  nothing  better."  There  would  be 
many  who  could  appreciate  this  enthusiastic  outburst,  for  many  a  stirring  meeting 
was  held  in  the  schoolroom  to  which  he  referred  and  in  the  chapel  above.  W.  Clowes 
was  at  Maguire  Street,  June,  1829,  when  several  persons  "were  in  distress  for  their 
souls,  and  cried  to  God  for  mercy."  It  was  the  Sunday  after  he  had  assisted  at  the 
embarkation  of  the  first  missionaries  to  the  United  States.  William  Knowles,  who 
was  Liverpool's  only  minister  when  the  Conference  of  1829  met,  was  one  of  these 
pioneer  missionaries.  Thus  early  did  Liverpool's  sympathetic  connection  with  the 
wider  missionary  movements  of  the  Connexion  begin  to  show  itself.  All  down  the 
years  we  meet  with  other  indications  of  this  connection.  Thomas  Lowe,  an  eaily 
enthusiast  of  African  missions,  went  out  into  the  ministry  from  Liverpool  in  1836. 
Captain  Robinson,  of  the  "  Elgiva,"  and  ship-carpenter  Hands,  who  prepared  the  way 
for  our  mission  to  Fernando  Po,  were  both  members  of  Liverpool  Second  Circuit ; 
and  W.  Holland,  who  succeeded  Messrs.  Burnett  and  Roe,  the  pioneer  missionaries 
on  that  island,  was  also  another  of  Liverpool's  gifts  to  Primitive  Methodism.  The 
Liverpool  societies  have  not  been  slow  to  speed  the  parting  and  to  welcome  the 
returning  missionary,  or  to  remember  him  practically  while  absent  on  the  field — as 
the  provision  of  a  boat  for  the  use  of  the  Fernandian  mission  showed.  In  rendering 
such  service,  Ex-Vice-President  Caton  has  been  conspicuous. 

Thomas  Bateman  spoke  truly  of  Liverpool  when  he  said :  "  It  did  not  improve  as 

*  "  Gatherings  from  Memory,"  a  series  of  interesting  articles  on  the  early  history  of  Liverpool 
Primitive  Methodism,  said  to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  H.  Simpson,  which  ran  through  the 
Christian  Messenger  of  1875. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT   PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


269 


270  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 

fast  as  was  desired  or  expected."  In  1829,  when  the  numerical  returns  of  the  stations 
are  first  given,  it  reported  but  143  members,  and  the  second  hundred  was  not  turned 
until  1832,  in  which  year  it  had  but  one  preacher.  It  was  not  until  1860  that 
Birkenhead,  which  had  been  made  a  branch  in  1857  under  W.  Wilkinson,  became  an 
independent  station  with  260  members,  and  with  J.  Macpherson 
as  superintendent,  leaving  Liverpool  with  500  members  and 
three  preachers — J.  Garner,  J.  Travis,  and  E.  A.  Davies.  From 
these  facts  it  will  be  seen  how  comparatively  recent  has  been 
the  development  of  our  Church  in  the  city  by  the  Mersey,  which 
now  has,  including  Birkenhead,  seven  stations  and  an  aggregate 
membership  of  1536.  We  reach  the  same  conclusion  if,  turning 
from  the  numerical  returns  of  then  and  now,  a  comparison  be 
instituted  on  the  material  side.  It  is  not  so  much  a  development 
we  see  as  a  revolution.  Since  1849  the  old  chapels  have  gone  as 
REV  w  WILKINSON  though  they  belonged  to  another  dispensation.  In  the  early  part 
of  1834,  Maguire  Street  was  the  only  chapel  possessed  by  the 
Primitives  in  Liverpool,  though  services  were  held  in  rooms  and  houses  at  various 
points ;  but  towards  the  end  of  the  year  a  chapel  was  opened  at  Mount  Pleasant, 
afterwards  superseded  by  Walnut  Street  Chapel ;  another  chapel  in  Prince  William 
Street,  which  had  belonged  to  the  New  Connexion  Methodists,  was  acquired,  and 
a  chapel  was  also  opened  at  Bebington,  on  the  Cheshire  side.  Save  that  Walnut  Street 
has  taken  the  place  of  Mount  Pleasant,  the  plan  for  the  first  quarter  of  1849  shows 
no  alteration.  Liscard,  Birkenhead,  Prescot,  Lime  Kiln  Lane,  Bootle,  Garston,  and 
Wallasey  are  names  of  places  found  on  this  plan.  Afterwards  the  Seaman's  Chapel  in 
Rathbone  Street  was  obtained,  and  in  1860,  under  the  superintendency  of  James  Garner, 
"  Pentecost"  and  the  "Jubilee"  chapels  were  opened. 

Who  and  what  sort  of  men  were  they  who  preached  in  these  old  chapels  and  rooms 
that,  like  themselves,  have  long  since  passed  away1?  Here,  on  an  old  plan  of  1834, 
we  have  their  names.  Thanks  to  documents  and  reminiscences  penned  long  ago,  some 
of  these  names  stand  out  in  momentary  distinctness,  so  that  they  become  something 
more  than  names  to  us,  and  we  can  recognise  their  individual  traits.  Here,  for 
instance,  as  the  file-leader  of  the  locals  is  J.  Cribbin,  a  Manxman,  but  long  resident 
in  Liverpool,  a  notable  figure  in  his  day,  who,  in  the  decline  of  life,  will  die  in 
distant  New  Orleans.  No.  6  is  J.  Murray,  "a  Christian  lawyer,"  whose  face,  meant 
for  smiles,  cannot  disguise  the  marks  of  care  and  sorrow.  Next  to  him  stands  the 
name  of  G.  Horbury,  the  circuit-steward,  a  Yorkshireman,  who  had  been  associated 
with  the  founders ;  a  stickler  for  rule ;  a  plain-haired  Primitive  himself,  and 
who  expected  all  his  brethren  to  "wear  their  hair  in  its  natural  form."  No.  13  is 
Hannah  Ashton,  who  was  skilled  in  helping  the  penitent  out  of  the  Slough  of  Despond, 
and  often  held  the  hand  of  those  who  went  down  into  the  dark  river.  Then 
comes  W.  Gibson,  once  a  prosperous  merchant,  but  whose  ships  foundered  one 
after  another,  so  that  at  last  a  tablet  placed  over  the  door  of  his  residence  at  Everton 
had  inscribed  on  it  the  words:  "I  was  brought  low,  but  the  Lord  raised  me  up." 
No.  17  marks  the  name  of  F.  Hunt,  who  died  in  1849,  on  his  way  into  the  interior 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE. 


271 


of  South  America.     Lastly,  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  of  locals  on  "  full "  plan  is  the 
name,  written  with  his  own  hand,  of  Richard  Corfield,  who  in  1834  had  just  come 


HOUSE   OF    MR.   JOHN    WYNNE   AT   POOLTOWN,    ELLESMEEE   PORT. 

from  the  Oswestry  Circuit,  and  who  was  to  do  yeoman  service  for  Liverpool  Primitive 
Methodism  until  his  death  in   1900.     He  came  a  country -bred  youth  into  the  great 


BUCKLEY   TABERNACLE. 


town.     For  a  time  he  was  almost  stunned  by  the  tide  of  life  surging  around  him. 
It  was  some  time  before  he  could  find  his  feet  or  adapt  himself  to  his  environment; 


272 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHUKCH. 


everything  was  so  strange  and  new.  He  had  his  struggles  with  the  seductions  and 
distractions  continually  presented.  But  he  was  a  strong  man  and  won,  anchoring 
himself  among  his  own  people.  But  as  fve  read  in  the  autobiographic  memoranda 
he  has  left,  of  his  self-chidings  and  struggles,  we  think  we  can  the  better  understand 


MRS.  STOCKTON. 


Mil.  J.  STOCKTON. 


MBS.  I).  LEWIS. 


the  greatness,  and  the  inevitability,  too,  of  the  leakage  that  must  have  gone  on  in  the 
early  days  of  our  Church,  consequent  on  the  migration  of  our  adherents  from  the 
villages  into  the  big  towns.  Many  of  the  best  men  in  the  Liverpool  societies,  like 
Richard  Corfield,  were  from  the  country,  but  these,  it  is  to  be  feared,  were  but  the 
salvage  of  those  who  had  drifted.  They  were  the  stalwarts — men  like  John  Gledsdale, 
S.  Wellington,  H.  Simpson,  James  Kennaugh,  and  others  who.  might  be  named. 

Some  of  the  societies  no  longer  forming  part  of  the  original  Preston  Brook,  Chester, 
or  Liverpool  Circuits  were  missioned  quite  early.  For  example,  the  societies  of 
Frodsham  and  Kingsley,  now  giving  their  joint  names  to  a  circuit  in  the  Liverpool 
District,  were  visited  by  H.  Bourns  as  early  as  1819.  Parr,  now  part  of  the  Earlstown 
Circuit,  in  1836  had  been  recently  missioned  by  Liverpool,  and  had  a  society  of 
twenty-six  members.  As  late  as  1839  no  permanent  footing  had  been  got  in  Birkenhead, 
but,  two  or  three  years  after,  the  opening  of  new  docks  and  streets  brought  an  influx 
of  population  to  tli<>  district,  amongst  which  were  found  some  zealous  adherents  of  the 

Connexion,  one  of   whom  opened  his  house 

for   services,   and    a    cause    was    established 

which  continued  to  grow. 

Ellesmere  Port,  at  the  mouth  of  the  canal 

which  connects  the  Mersey  and  the  Severn, 

has   an    interesting    history    which   links  us 

with  the  past.     In  this  comparatively  modern 

village   our  Church  holds  a  commanding,  it 

might   even   be   said  a  unique,  position.     It 

possesses    property    to    the    value    of    about 

£9000,  including  a  splendid  chapel  with  an 

average  congregation  of  six  hundred,  large 
Day  Schools,  Public  Hall  and  Institute,  the  latter  comprising  Cafe,  Recreation  Rooms,  etc. 
The  foundation  of  this  success  was  prepared  for  in  the  old  cottage  at  Pooltown  (shown 
in  our  illustration),  where  Mr.  John  Wynne  and  his  twin-daughters  'resided.  For  more 


K.    WOOIHVABD. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE. 


273 


than  eighty  years  services  were  held  in  this  cottage,  and  only  ceased  to  be  held  there 
some  few  years  ago,  on  the  erection  of  a  neat  chapel  at  Pooltown.  Mrs.  Lewis,  one 
of  the  daughters,  still  resides  in  the  cottage ;  the  other  daughter  was  married  to 
Mr.  John  Stockton,  who  not  only  opened  his  house  for  the  first  services  held  at 
Ellesmere  Port,  but  in  other  ways  greatly  assisted  in  the  establishment  of  the  society 
which  has  attained  such  proportions.  He  is  worthily  represented  by  his  grandson — 
Mr.  W.  Stockton.  Others  who  by  their  character  and  long  service  contributed  to 
mould  and  strengthen  the  cause  at  Ellesmere  Port,  were  Mr.  Richard  Woodward  and 

Mr.  Thomas  Hales.  The  latter,  who  came  from  Shropshire 
in  1840  to  take  up  the  position  of  canal  manager,  retired 
to  Ellesmere  on  vacating  his  post,  and  died  in  1892. 
As  superintendent  of  the  Ellesmere  Port  Sunday  School, 
it  was,  for  a  number  of  years,  Mr.  Hales'  custom  to  write 
a  hymn  for  the  recurring  anniversary.  Several  popular 
hymns,  of  which  probably  the  authorship  has  hitherto 
been  unknown  or  wrongly  attributed,  came  from  his  pen 
in  this  unobtrusive  way — hymns  such  as  "  Sabbath  Schools 
are  England's  glory";  "When  mothers  of  Salem";  "I'll 
away  to  the  Sabbath  School " ;  "  When  the  morning 
light"  ;  and  "  Till  Jesus  calls  us  home." 

Buckley  Circuit,  formed  from  Chester  in  1871,  as  was 
also  Wrexham,  is  entirely  within  the  Welsh  county  of 
Flint.  Alltami,  missioned  more  than  seventy  years  ago, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  mother-society  of  the  circuit,  since 
in  1838  it  built  its  first  chapel  and  missioned  Buckley.  The  "Tabernacle,"  which  in 
1875  took  the  place  of  the  chapel  built  in  1841  and  enlarged  in  1863,  is  the  largest 
building  in  Buckley,  and  shares  with  the  City  Temple  the  distinction  of  being  one 
of  the  very  few  Nonconformist  places  of  worship  in  which  Mr.  Gladstone  delivered 
a  public  address.*  "Among  the  many  names  cherished  in  the  station,"  says  one  who 
has  written  of  it,  "  are  those  of  such  men  as  Charles  Price,  clear-minded,  methodical 
and  faithful ;  Edward  Davies,  the  father  of  Rev.  E.  A.  Davies  ;  John  Roberts,  the 
quaint,  emotional  Welsh  preacher ;  Peter  Kendrick,  kindly,  loyal  to  his  Church,  mighty 
in  deed  and  word ;  Edward  Davies,  of  '  The  Mount,'  who,  though  not  a  local  preacher, 
was  a  devoted  member  and  official  of  our  Church  for  more  than  fifty  years."!  To 
these  names  may  be  added  those  of  Mr.  E.  Bellis,  a  tried  and  trusty  friend  of  the 
Buckley  Circuit,  and  W.  Wilcock,  of  Penyffordd,  who  as  a  leader  in  the  last  tithe- 
war  in  North  Wales  had  his  goods  distrained.  His  cause  was  ably  championed  through 
the  press  and  on  the  platform  by  Rev.  J.  Crompton,  who  was  minister  of  the  Buckley 
Circuit  at  the  time,  and  had  a  long  and  useful  term  of  service  there. 

*  The  address  was  given  at  Buckley  on  Monday  evening,  November  1st,  1885. 
f  Rev.  J.  Phillipson  in  Christian  Messenger,  1900,  pp.  215—17. 


EDWARD   BELLIS. 


274  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  EXTENSION  OF  TUNSTALL  DISTRICT  IN  SHROPSHIRE  AND  ADJOIN  INC 

COUNTIES. 

[JEffi  appearance  on  the  stations  of  Oakengates  in  1823,  of  Shrewsbury  and 
Hopton  Bank  (afterward  Ludlow)  in  1824,  and  of  Frees  Green  in  1826, 
registered  the  geographical  advance  the  Tunstall  District  by  this  time  had 
made,  chiefly  in  Shropshire,  but  with  extensions  into  other  counties.  By 
this  enlargement  the  foundations  were  laid  of  the  whole  of  the  modern  Shrewsbury, 
and  of  a  goodly  portion  of  the  West  Midland  District.  Moreover,  some  of  these 
new  circuits,  almost  from  the  time  of  their  formation,  threw  out  missions  into  more 
distant  counties,  the  fruit  of  which  was  seen  after  many  days.  Indeed  it  would  be 
a  fairly  accurate  generalisation  to  say  that  we  owe  the  beginnings  of  our  present 
Briu  kworth  District  to  Shrewsbury ;  of  South  Wales  District  to  Oakengates ;  of  Bristol 
District  to  Tunstall  and  Scotter's  "  Western  Mission " ;  and  of  Devon  and  Cornwall 
District  to  Hull  and  the  General  Missionary  Committee.  Besides  being  fairly  accurate, 
the  generalisation  also  furnishes  a  useful  clue  to  guide  us  through  the  maze-like  com- 
plexities of  our  Connexional  development  in  the  South-Western  counties.  Following, 
then,  the  actual  sequence  of  events,  we  now  proceed  to  glance  at  the  making  of  the 
four  Shropshire  Circuits  already  named,  beginning  with  the  earliest — Oakengates. 

OAKENGATES. 

.  Hugh  Bourne  had  frequently  visited  Shropshire  on  his  missionary  excursions ;  but 
if  any  fruit  remained  of  these  early  labours  it  had  been  gathered  by  other  communities. 
To  the  missionaries  sent  out  by  Tunstall  in  the  autumn  of  1821  Shropshire  was  new 
ground.  They  felt  their  way  by  Newport  and  other  places,  meeting  on  the  whole  with 
no  great  success,  until  they  came  into  the  neighbourhood  of  Oakengates  and  Wellington, 
lying  almost  under  the  shadow  of  the  Wrekin.  Here,  in  the  populous  coal  and  iron 
district  of  the  county,  James  Bonsor,  as  leading  missionary,  and  his  colleagues  at  once 
met  with  much  success.  Hugh  Bourne  came  to  assist  at  the  first  camp  meeting  ever 
held  in  this  part  of  the  country,  on  May  19th,  1822 — the  great  camp  meeting  day. 
Even  at  this  date  "  the  Shropshire  Mission  "  had  so  far  prospered  that  it  had  already 
become  "  the  Oakengates  branch"  of  Tunstall  Circuit ;  and  in  December,  1822,  it  became 
the  Oakengates  Circuit,  and  in  1827  had  seven  preachers  put  down  to  it.  In  1828 
the  name  of  the  station  was  changed  from  Oakengates  to  Wrockwardine  Wood,  probably 
because  a  chapel  was  built  at  the  latter  place  at  an  early  date,  while,  for  a  long  time, 
all  efforts  to  secure  a  suitable  place  of  worship  at  Oakengates  proved  unavailing. 
Subsequently,  however,  a  site  was  obtained  near  the  Bull  Ring,  where  the  first 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  275 

missionaries  had  taken  their  stand,  and  when  this  building  was  sold  to  the  Birmingham 
and  Shrewsbury  Kailway  Company,  the  considerable  sum  realised  by  the  sale  enabled 
the  trustees  to  erect  a  much  larger  one  in  a  prominent  situation,  and  place  it  in  easy 
circumstances.  In  1834  Richard  Davies,  himself  a  fruit  of  the  Shropshire  Mission, 
was,  through  the  influence  of  James  Bourne,  appointed  to  Wrockwardine  Wood. 
The  circuit  had  declined,  and  there  were  special  difficulties,  both  legal  and  financial, 
pressing  upon  the  trust  of  Wrockwardine  Wood  Chapel.  Thus  early  the  remarkable 
business  abilities  of  Mr.  Davies,  from  which  the  Connexion  was  afterwards  to  reap 
such  advantage,  were  recognised  by  the  discerning.  During  his  four  years'  term  of 
service  the  station  experienced  renewed  prosperity.  Wrockwardine  Wood  Chapel 
was  freed  from  its  difficulties,  and  additional  land  bought  on  which  a  preacher's  house 
was  built.  Chapels  were  also  opened  in  the  summer  of  1835  at  Wellington  and 
Edgmond.  There  is  a  story  relating  to  Edgmond  Chapel  worth  telling,  since  it  shows 
how  formidable  were  the  difficulties  that  had  to  be  overcome  by  many  a  village  society 
before  it  could  secure  its  own  little  freehold  and  all  that  it  insured — independence  of 
outside  interference  and  a  reasonable  guarantee  for  the  future. 

At  the  time  the  story  opens,  Edgmond,  now  on  the  Newport  station,  was  a  village 
in  which  there  was  no  religious  competition.  The  State-Church  had  it  all  its  own 
way  and,  whether  coincidence  or  consequence,  the  village  was  in  a  bad  way.  The 
clergyman  was  one  of  the  old  type,  now  almost  obsolete.  He  kept  his  pack  of  hounds, 
and  was  not  more  eager  to  chase  the  fox  than  to  drive  Dissenters  from  his  parish. 
True  to  the  adage,  "  Like  priest,  like  people,"  many  of  his  parishioners  were  not  only 
benighted  themselves,  but  stoutly  resisted  the  introduction  of  the  light.  Several 
attempts  had  been  made  by  zealous  members  of  other  Churches  to  preach  the  Gospel 
in  the  village — notably  by  a  Methodist  and  a  Congregational  minister,  but  they  had 
been  driven  away,  bemired  with  the  filth  of  the  kennel  through  which  they  had  been 
dragged.  Now  Mrs.  Jones,  a  Primitive  Methodist  local  preacher  and  leader  of  Newport, 
who  brought  the  letters  to  Edgmond  every  morning,  was  deeply  concerned  at  the  moral 
condition  of  the  place.  At  her  request  preachers  were  sent  from  Wrockwardine  Wood 
to  mission  the  village,  and  preaching  was  established  at  its  outskirts.  But  the  distance 
of  the  preaching-house  from  the  village  and  the  bad  state  of  the  roads,  coupled  with 
the  persecution  to  which  both  preachers  and  congregation  were  subjected,  militated 
against  success,  so  that  at  the  September  Quarterly  Meeting  of  1834  the  question  of 
the  abandonment  of  the  place  was  seriously  discussed.  However,  it  was  finally  decided 
to  try  what  effect  would  follow  from  holding  a  camp  meeting  before  relinquishing  it 
altogether.  The  meeting  was  duly  held  in  a  field  lent  by  a  farmer,  who  had  opportunely 
quarrelled  with  the  rector,  and  it  was  in  every  way  a  great  success.  In  response  to  an 
appeal  Mr.  Minshall  offered  his  house,  which  stood  near  the  Church,  for  the  holding 
of  services,  and  a  small  society  was  formed,  of  which  Mrs.  Jones,  the  letter-carrier, 
became  the  leader;  while  Mr.  Vigars,  as  the  result  of  the  camp  meeting,  became 
a  staunch  adherent  of  the  society.  The  ire  of  the  clergyman  was  great.  Unmoved 
alike  by  the  clergyman's  persuasions  and  threats,  Mr.  Minshall  was  summoned  to 
appear  before  the  Petty  Sessions  at  Newport  for  permitting  an  unlicensed  conventicle 
to  be  held  in  his  house,  the  clergyman  publicly  boasting  that  the  fine  about  to  be 

s  2 


276 


PRIMITIVE   METHDDIST   CHURCH. 


DARK   LANE   CHAPEL. 


inflicted  should  be  distributed  among  the  poor  of  the  village.  Mr.  Davies  took  care 
to  appear  at  the  Justices'  Meeting,  and  as  the  clergyman  sitting  with  the  magistrates 
was  allowed  to  pour  forth  a  tirade  of  abuse  against  the  Church  of  which  Mr.  Davies 

was  the  recognised  minister, 
Mr.  Davies  also  claimed  and 
secured  the  right  to  speak  in 
vindication  alike  of  the  Church 
and  of  the  accused.  What 
followed  shall  be  given  in 
Mr.  Davies'  own  words  : — 

"  Here  one  of  the  magis- 
trates looked  at  the  clergy- 
man, and  asked  :  'Who  is 
the  owner  of  the  house  in 
which  the  meetings  are 
held  ? '  I  knew  what  that 
meant,  and  said  :  '  Please, 
your  worship,  it  is  now 
of  little  moment  who  his 
landlord  is,  because  land 

is  purchased  on  which  to  erect  a  chapel  in  the  centre  of  the  village.     The  deeds 
are  executed  and   the  works    are  let  to   undertakers,  and   long  before  a  legal 
notice  to  quit  can  expire,  the  man's  house  will  not  be  needed  for  our  services.' 
'  I  never  heard  a  word  of  that,'  said   the   parson,   looking  at  the  magistrates. 
'They  must  have  been  quick  in  accomplishing  the  thing,  and  very  sly  about  it.' 
'Yes,'  said  I,  'both  rapidity  and  secrecy  were  needed,  when  we  considered  the 
gentleman  we  had  to  deal  with.'    The  magistrates  then  retired  for  consultation, 
and  on  their  return  into  court  the  chairman  said  to  the  poor  man  :  '  Your  house 
is  properly  licensed,  and  you  have  a  perfect 
right    to   worship   God    in   your  own   way. 
The  case  is  dismissed.'    We  bowed,  and  were 
about  to  leave  the  court  when  the  parson 
asked  the  magistrate  in  a  loud  voice :  '  Who 
is    to   pay    the    expenses  ? '     The    chairman 
looked  at  him,  and  sternly  said  :  '  Pay  them 
yourself.'     On  leaving  the  court  a  gentleman 
desired  me  and  the  poor  man  to  dine  with 
him,  declaring,  although  a  Churchman,  that 
he   was   highly  pleased   with   the  result  of 
the   trial.    The  chapel  was  completed  in  a 
few  months,  and  the  two  ministers  [Messrs. 
T.  Palmer  and  J.  Whittenbury]  who  had  been  so  cruelly  treated   in  the  village 
by  the  persecutors  some  time  previously,  were  honoured  by  an  invitation  to  preach 
the  opening  sermons,  which  was  cheerfully  accepted  ....     Henceforth  the  little 
chapel  at  Edgmond  had  rest,  and  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  it  for  good."* 
*  Rev.  R.  Davies'  signed   contribution  to   •'  A   Book    of    Marvels  or   Incidents  of    Primitive 
Methodism,"  by  Rev.  W.  Antliff,  assisted  by  numerous  contributors.     An  account  of  the  opening 
of  Edgmond  Chapel  is  given  in  the  Magazine  for  1836.     The  names  of  the  actors  in  this  episode 
have  been  kindly  supplied  from  local  sources  by  Rev»  W.  Forth. 


THOMAS   TART. 


\VM.    WITH  ING  TON. 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  277 

Another  chapel  in  this  same  coal  and  iron  district  which  also  has  its  history  may  be 
briefly  referred  to.  Dark  Lane  is  the  somewhat  significant  name  given  to  a  mass 
of  dwelling-houses  in  the  postal  district  of  Shifnal,  in  the  present  Oakengates  and 
Wellington  Circuit.  The  chapel,  which  has  been  erected  on  one  side  of  this  populous 
neighbourhood  perpetuates,  by  means  of  marble  tablets,  the  memory  of  two  men  who 
were  devoted  workers  of  the  society  for  upwards  of  fifty  years,  and  through  whose 
prayers  and  labours  the  erection  of  this  building  was  largely  due.  Thomas  Tart 
(died  1892)  and  William  Withington  (1902)  were,  it  is  said,  accustomed  to  kneel  on 
a  certain  piece  of  land  to  pray  that  the  way  might  be  opened  for  the  erection  of 
a  much-needed  chapel  in  the  place.  In  1863  permission  was  given  to  stake  out  a  site, 


THE    MARDOL,    SHREWSBURY. 


but  before  building  operations  could  begin  there  was  a  change  in  the  ownership  of  the 
land,  with  the  result  that  the  chapel  had  to  be  built  on  the  very  spot  on  which  they 
had  offered  so  many  prayers.  The  land  is  spacious,  and  the  saintly  William  Withington, 
during  his  latter  years,  took  an  interest  in  neatly  keeping  its  flower-beds. 

Some  of  the  changes  the  years  have  brought  to  what  we  may  call  the  home-part 
of  the  old  Wrockwardine  Wood  Circuit  may  be  briefly  noted.  Dawley  Green  and 
other  places  in  the  neighbourhood  were  successfully  missioned  in  1839-40,  with  the 
result  that  Dawley  became  an  independent  station  in  1854.  Madeley,  that  will  ever 
be  sacred  as  the  place  where  the  sainted  Fletcher  laboured  and  which  holds  his  ashes, 
formed  a  part  of  Dawley  Circuit  until  1881,  when  it  also  came  on  the  list  of  stations. 


278  PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 

Here,  too,  the  venerable  Joseph  Preston  died  in  1896  in  the  94th  year  of  his  age  and 
the  73rd  of  his  ministry.  Stafford  also  was  for  some  time  a  branch  of  Wrockwardine 
Wood,  and  Oakengates  and  Wellington,  and  Newport  Circuits  were  made  from  it  in 
1865  and  1893  respectively. 

SHREWSBURY. 

The  first  missionary  to  Shrewsbury  whose  name  is  given  was  Sarah  Spittle.  On 
Sunday,  June  30th,  she  preached  thrice  in  the  streets  of  the  picturesque  old  city,  led 
the  class,  and  "joined"  nine  new  members.  She  remarks  that  there  are  now  forty-four 
in  society,  and  "a  good  prospect."  From  this  it  is  clear  that  Sarah  Spittle  must  have 
been  preceded  to  Shrewsbury  by  some  other  missionary.  James  Bonsor  followed  on 
August  4th,  by  which  time  the  society  numbered  sixty.  It  was  harvest-time;  and 
it  was  then,  and  long  continued  the  custom  at  that  season,  for  the  Mardol,  one  of  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city,  to  be  thronged  by  men  waiting  to  be  hired  for  the  harvest. 
James  Bonsor  was  moved  by  this  strange  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day,  to  try  to 
engage  some  of  these  for  his  Master's  service.  He  took  his  stand  in  the  crowded  street 
and  began  to  preach ;  but  before  he  had  got  through  the  service  he  was  marched  off  by 
the  constable  to  the  Court  House ;  and  then,  as  he  would  not  promise  "never  to  preach 
there  more,"  he  was  led  off  to  prison,  singing  all  the  way,  and  followed  by  an  immense 
crowd.  Prayer  was  made  for  the  missionary  at  the  different  chapels,  and  as  a  practical 
proof  of  good-will  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  citizens,  they  provided  him  with  no 
less  than  eight  breakfasts  !  His  detention  was  but  short :  at  noon,  he  was  taken  before 
another  magistrate  who  set  him  at  liberty,  and  at  night  he  was  preaching  again  with 
"not  quite  all  the  people  of  Shrewsbury"  to  hear  him. 

James  Bonsor's  arrest  and  what  followed  was  the  talk  of  the  city.     It  resulted  in 
calling  attention  to  the  missionaries  and  securing  for  them  a  large  measure  of  public 
sympathy.     Shrewsbury  did  not  forget,  and  is  not  likely  to  forget,  the  hero  of  the 
Mardol  hirings  and  the  eight  breakfasts.     When,  in  1828,  he  died  at  Preston-on-the- 
Weald  Moors,  prematurely  broken  and  worn-out  with  his  excessive  labours,  the  Circuit 
Committee  decided  "  that  the  Shrewsbury  Chapel  be  in  mourning 
for   James   Bonsor  for  six  weeks,"  and,  as   a   token   of  respect 
to   his   memory,  his    funeral   sermon   was    preached.      But  while 
James  Bonsor  is  remembered,  Sarah  Spittle  must  not  be  forgotten. 
Both  before,  and  for  some  weeks  immediately  after  the  Sunday 
of  the  imprisonment,  she  laboured  in  and  around  the  city — some- 
times preaching  at  a  camp  meeting,  at  other  times  in  the  street, 
or  at  the  Cross — so  that  she  is  entitled  to  rank  as  one  of  the 
planters  of  our  Church  in  Shrewsbury.      One  of  the  earliest  con- 
verts in  the  city  was  a  girl — Elizabeth  Johnson.     She  soon  began 
MRS.  ELIZ.  BROWNHILL,  to  exhort,  and  when  but  sixteen  years  of  age  went  out,  in  1824, 
as   a   travelling   preacher,    labouring   first   in  South  Wales,   and 
afterwards  in  Wrockwardine  Wood,  Preston,  Kamsor,  Darlaston,  and  Burton-on-Trent 
Circuits.     Elizabeth  Johnson  is  better  known  as  Mrs.  Brownhill;  for,  in  1828,  she 
was  married  to  Mr.  W.  Brownhill  of  Birchills,  Walsall.      Almost  until   her  death, 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  279 

in  I860,  she  preached  in  the  pulpits  of  what  are  now  circuits  in  the  West  Midland 
District.  Three  of  the  sons  of  this  girl-preacher  of  the  early  days  have  been  Primitive 
Methodist  Mayors  of  the  borough  of  Walsall  and,  in  the  language  of  one  of  them, 
Mr.  W.  Brownhill,  J.P.  :  "The  greatest  honour  in  the  family  is  the  life  of  the  mother; 
and  they  are  following  her  in  trying  to  make  the  world  better 
than  they  found  it."  Sarah  Spittle,  the  Shrewsbury  pioneer, 
and  P^lizabeth  Johnson,  one  of  its  proto-converts,  show  us  once 
more,  how  largely  in  the  early  days  our  Church  availed  itself  of 
female  agency,  and  with  what  far-reaching  and  satisfactory  results. 
Shrewsbury,  which  from  1823  had  been  a  branch  of  Oakengates, 
was  in  1824  made  a  circuit.  "Castle  Court  Chapel  was  purchased 
at  a  cost  of  £850,  and  was  opened  in  June,  1826.  It  was  an 
old  ecclesiastical  building  under  which,  at  the  time  of  purchase, 
were  two  vaults.  Originally  it  was  a  portion  of  the  old  Town 

MR  w  BHOW.VHI  Prison  or  House  of  Correction.     It  stood  within  the  ancient  walls 

of  the  town,  and  overlooked  the  beautiful  vale  of  the  Severn."* 
In  this  old-time  chapel  the  brethren  met  to  discuss  the  affairs  of  their  wide  circuit, 
with  its  branches  and  distant  North  Wales  and  Belfast  missions ;  for  Shrewsbury 
has  been  a  prolific  mother-circuit  from  which,  during  the  course  of  the  years,  the 
following  circuits  have  been  formed,  viz.:  Brink  worth,  1826 ;  Bishops  Castle,  1832: 
Newtown  (Montgomery),  1836;  Hadnall,  1838;  Minsterley,  1856;  Church  Stretton, 
1872,  and  Clun,  1884,  from  Bishops  Castle;  Welshpool,  1877,  from  Minsterley. 

Though  it  is  impossible  to  follow  in  detail  the  history  of  each  of  these  derivative 
circuits,  reference  must  be  made  to  the  missioning  of  Bishops  Castle  in  August,  1828, 
by  Richard  Ward  and  Thomas  Evans,  a  local  preacher.  The  full  and  interesting 
Journals  of  Richard  Ward,  who  came  from  Farndale  near  Kirby  Moorside,  reveal  a 
cheery  and.intrepid  spirit  which,  with  Divine  assistance,  was  hisgbest  qualification  for  what 
-seemed  a  forlorn  hope ;  for  Bishops  Castle  had  a  bad  name  that  found  expression  in 
more  than  one  reproachful  proverbial  saying.  It  was  called  "  the  Devil's  Mansion,"  and 
other  uncomplimentary  names.  Dissent  was  represented  by  one  small  Independent 
chapel  with  an  almost  extinct  church.  Other  denominations  had  tried  to  gain  a  footing" 
— and  tried  in  vain  ;  the  Primitives  being  amongst  the  baffled  ones.  Only  the  previous 
year,  W.  Parkinson,  one  of  the  Shrewsbury  preachers  who  had  been  a  missionary  in 
Jamaica,  made  the  attempt.  He  ought  to  have  succeeded ;  for  he  had  as  his  ally  the 
clergyman  of  a  neighbouring  parish,  who  sometimes  preached  for  the  Primitives  and 
let  them  preach  in  his  kitchen.  But  the  two  were  stoned  out  of  the  place.  When,  on 
the  10th  August,  Mr.  Ward  and  his  companion  saw  Bishops  Castle  in  the  distance  and 
"  heard  the  bells  giving  notice  for  steeple-worship,"  they  found  it  needful  to  encourage 
each  other  in  the  Lord,  and  succeeded,  Mr.  Ward's  faith  mounting  clear  above  all 
discouragements,  so  that  he  had  even  a  foresight  of  the  day  when  Bishops  Castle  should 
be  a  circuit.  Their  reception  was  rough,  and  it  would  have  been  rougher  still,  had 
not  a  noted  fighter  who  stood  wishful  to  hear,  sworn  to  defend  the  missionaries  against 

*  Communicated  by  Rev.  A.  A.  Bifchenough. 


280 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


REV.    JAMES   HUFF. 


the  violence  which  threatened.  The  pugilist  was  one  of  the  first  to  enroll  himself 
a  member  of  the  society  afterwards  formed.  A  woman,  "with  tears  in  her  eyes," 
offered  her  cottage  for  the  evening  service,  but  as  the  mob  threatened  to  burn  it  down 
or  unroof  it  in  case  the  offer  was  accepted,  they  preferred  to  take  their  stand  again  in 

front  of  the  Castle  green.  Here  they  managed  to  deliver 
their  message,  though  under  strange  conditions ;  for,  while 
some  wept  under  the  influence  of  the  truth,  others  mocked 
and  swore  and  threw  stones.  No  sooner  was  the  service 
ended  than  the  preacher  and  his  friends  were  chased  by 
the  stone-throwers,  and  had  to  take  to  the  pastures  in  order 
to  escape  the  hail  of  missiles.  Mr.  Ward,  however,  seems 
to  have  thought  that  on  the  whole  his  mission  had  opened 
promisingly,  and  the  next  two  Sundays  found  him  again  at 
Bishops  Castle.  Tact  and  courage  won  the  day.  When 
Sunday,  August  24th,  closed  rowdy  opposition  had  died 
down.  A  society  was  established  and  friends  raised  up — 
notably  Mr.  Pugh,  a  respectable  tradesman  of  the  town,  who 
became  a  local  preacher,  as  did  also  his  two  sons.  The 
Pugh  family  were  of  great  service  to  the  new  cause,  and 
in  one  of  their  houses  services  were  held.  In  1832,  Richard 
Ward's  prophecy  had  its  fulfilment,  for  in  that  year  Bishops  Castle  began  its  influential 
career  as  a  circuit.  The  circuit  early  gave  some  useful  men  to  the  ministry  of  our  Church, 
such  as  Thomas  Morgan,  John  Pugh  (son  of  Mr.  Pugh  already  named),  Richard  Owen ; 
also  Robert  Bowen,  of  Asterton,  who,  in  1851,  began  to  travel  in  his  native  circuit, 
and  died  at. Bishops  Castle  in  1896.  A  sister  of  his  (who  afterwards  became  the  wife 
of  Rev.  Philip  Pugh)  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  the  revered  James  Huff, 
whose  long  ministry  of  forty-six  years  was  one  of  remarkable  spiritual  power  and 
fruitfulness.  In  the  official  memoir  of  Mr.  Huff,  written  by  the  late  Dr.  Ferguson, 
we  are  told:  "In  1887,  at  the  time  of  his  superannuation,  it  was  said  that  out  of  sixty 
ministers  given  to  our  ministry  out  of  the  county  of  Shropshire, 
forty  had  been  led  to  Christ  by  our  sainted  friend."  If  this 
statement  be  even  approximately  true,  James  Huff  has  indeed 
carved  his  name  deep  in  the  history  of  Shropshire  Primitive 
Methodism.  He  was  appointed  a  permanent  member  of  Con- 
ference in  1886,  and  in  1903  died  at  Bishops  Castle  where,  in 
1842,  he  had  begun  his  ministry. 

It  was  at  a  camp-meeting  lovefeast,  conducted  by  James  Huff, 
that  a  youth  named  Richard  Jones  made  the  great  decision. 
The  youth  developed  a  character  marked  by  a  fine  combination 
of  strength  and  tenderness.  As  leader,  local  preacher,  circuit 
steward,  district  official,  Mr.  Richard  Jones,  of  Clun,  was  widely  known,  trusted,  and 
respected.  At  Clun  especially  he  was  the  stay  and  guide  of  the  society ;  and  it  was 
chiefly  through  his  liberality  and  guidance  that  the  present  church,  school,  and  manse 
were  erected,  forming,  as  they  do,  a  block  of  property  which  is  an  ornament  to  the 


RICHARD  JONES. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  281 

town,  a  credit  to  the  Connexion,  and  a  tangible  memorial  of  the  faith,  tact,  and  sacrifice 
of  Mr.  Jones,  who  died  January  20th,  1900.* 

To  the  list  of  ministers  raised  up  by  the  original  Shrewsbury  Circuit  must  be 
added  the  eminent  names  of  Philip  Pugh  and  Richard  Davies.  The  former  entered 
the  ministry  in  1836,  and  died  in  1871.  As  early  as  1839 
T.  Bateman  notes  in  his  Journal:  "  We  have  got  a  new  staff 
of  preachers.  Pugh  is  a  young  man  from  Shrewsbury.  /  think 
there  is  something  in  him — studious,  obliging,  and  a  tolerable 
preacher."  The  judgment  shows  the  discernment  of  the  writer, 
but  even  he  when  he  wrote  it,  could  not  have  divined  what 
possibilities  of  solid,  continuous  growth  were  latent  in  this  studious 
youth  from  Shrewsbury,  whom  he  lived  to  see  worthily  filling  the 
office  of  Editor  and  President  of  Conference  (1867).  Richard 
Davies  was  one  of  a  number  of  youths  who,  in  1823,  invited  the 
Primitives  to  Minsterley,  promising  to  find  the  preacher  a  room 

for  the  services  and  to  provide  him  with  board  and  lodging.  Entering  the  ministry 
in  1825,  he  was  sent  to  the  Wiltshire  Mission,  but  returned  to  Shrewsbury  the  next 
year.  For  six  months  he  was  wholly  engaged  in  missioning  neglected  villages,  in 
five  or  six  of  which  he  succeeded  in  forming  societies  that  were  incorporated  with  the 
Shrewsbury  Circuit.  This  young  miner  of  Minsterley  was  to  become  General  Book 
Steward  and  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Insurance  Company. 

Probably  stimulated  by  the  success  of  its  Wiltshire  Mission,  Shrewsbury  Circuit  in 
1832  led  the  way  in  establishing  a  mission  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  Here  are  one 
or  two  items  from  the  old  minute-books  which,  doubtless,  got  written  down  only  after 
much  discussion  of  "pros  and  cons":  "March  18th,  1832:  That  Brother  Haslam  go 
into  Ireland  as  soon  as  he  can  after  next  Monday."  "September  5th,  1832:  That 
Brother  Haslam  beg  at  every  house  in  Shrewsbury  for  Ireland."  Unfortunately, 
T.  Haslam  soon  withdrew  from  the  Connexion,  and  his  place  on  the  Mission  was 
taken,  December,  1834,  by  W.  Bickerdike.  On  entering  upon  his  duties  Mr.  Bickerdike 
had  his  modestTpresentation,  as  the  following  entry  shows  :  "  December,  1836. — That 
Brother  Bickerdike  have  one  volume  of  our  Large  Magazine  given  him  as  a  token  of 
respect."  The  good  opinion  evidently  already  formed  of  W.  Bickerdike  was  abundantly 
justified  by  his  after  career.  He  applied  himself  vigorously  to  repair  the  mischief 
caused  by  the  withdrawal  of  his  predecessor,  and  succeeded  (1836)  in  building  a  chapel 
in  Belfast  to  take  the  place  of  the  room  in  Reas  Court.  In  1839  the  powerful  Dudley 
Circuit  relieved  Shrewsbury  of  the  charge  of  the  Belfast  Mission.  When,  in  1843-4, 
the  three  Irish  missions  were  taken  over  by  the  General  Missionary  Committee,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  they  had  hitherto  proved  particularly  successful,  or  answered  the 
expectations  of  their  promoters. 

HOPTON  BANK,  OB  LUDLOW. 

Hopton  Bank,  afterwards  called  Ludlow,  represents  the  south-western  extension  of 
the  young  and  vigorous  Darlaston  Circuit.  Hopton  Bank  must  not  be  thought  of  as 

*  Rev.  W.  Jones  Davies,  a  spiritual  son  of  Mr.  Jones,  has  published  an  "  Appreciation "  of 
Mr.  Jones,  in  which  are  to  be  found  interesting  notices  of  Bishops  Castle  and  Clun  Circuits. 


282  PRIMITIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

a  comparatively  compact  circuit  of  the  modern  type,  but  rather  as  a  tract  of  country 
extending  from  Kidderminster  to  Presteign.  About  midway  between  these  two 
extreme  points  is  Hopton  Bank  which,  probably  for  that  very  reason,  was  made  the 
titular  head  of  the  circuit ;  but  as  the  ancient  town  of  Ludlow  was  the  more  con- 
venient town  for  the  preachers'  residence,  the  name  was  changed.  We  are  not  able, 
any  more  than  was  Mr.  Petty,  to  furnish  interesting  particulars  as  to  the  first  missioning 
of  this  wide  district.  From  the  memoir  of  Mrs.  Grace  Newell,  who  is  stated  to 
have  provided  a  home  for  the  first  missionaries  that  reached  Presteign,  that  town  and 
other  places  in  Radnorshire,  were  visited  as  early  as  the  autumn  of  1821.  Again,  in 
the  memoir  of  Samuel  Morris,  who  Was  born  at  Fordham  near  Glee  Hills  in  1815,  we 
are  told  that  the  Darlaston  Circuit  missioned  Fordham  and  the  district  around  while 
he  was  but  a  small  boy,  and  that  the  Morris  family  opened  their  house  for  preaching, 
and  were  among  the  chief  supporters  of  the  Hopton  Bank  Circuit.  Samuel  Morris 
began  his  ministry  in  his  native  circuit  in  1836  and,  what  was  very  unusual  at 
that  time,  spent  the  whole  of  his  probation  upon  it.  Once  more  :  we  find  that 
Thomas  Norman  was  one  of  the  preachers  of  Darlaston  Circuit  in  1823  and  stationed 
in  Ludlow  when  seized  with  mortal  sickness  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  These  small 
pieces  of  evidence  justify  the  conclusion  that,  from  1821  onwards  to  1824,  when 
Hopton  Bank  was  made  a  circuit,  extensive  evangelisation  in  this  wide  district  was 
being  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  Darlaston. 

We  get  an  interesting  side-light  on  the  missionary  activity  of  the  Ludlow  Circuit 
(as  we  will  call  it)  from  the  life-story  of  Elizabeth  Smith,  afterwards  Mrs.  Russell. 
We  see  the  geographical  direction  that  missionary  activity  took,  how  far  it  reached, 
and,  above  all,  how  simply  and  trustfully  it  was  undertaken  and  carried  on. 
Elizabeth  Smith  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  figures  in  our  early  history.  She 
deservedly  takes  a  high  place  among  the  many  female-workers  of  the  early  decades, 
and  the  reference  to  her  here  is  the  more  in  place  as  we  shall  soon  meet  with  her  hard 
at  work  in  Wiltshire.  She  was  converted  at  the  Christmas  of  1825,  while  on  a  visit 
to  Ludlow,  her  native  place.  She  soon  began  to  exercise  in  prayer  and  to  exhort,  and 
when,  in  the  September  of  1826,  a  request  came  out  of  Radnorshire  that  a  missionary 
might  be  sent  to  a  part  of  the  county  as  yet  unvisited,  Elizabeth  Smith  was  urged  to 
undertake  the  mission,  and,  despite  the  opposition  of  her  friends,  gladly  consented. 
Her  going  forth  was  apostolically  simple.  The  superintendent  put  a  map  of  the  road 
into  her  hand,  and  supplemented  it  with  verbal  directions.  Said  he:  "You  will  have 
to  raise  your  own  salary — two  guineas  a  quarter."  "Oh,  I  did  not  know  I  was  to 
have  anything,"  was  the  answer.  She  travelled  the  whole  of  the  first  day,  and  night 
found  her  on  a  lonely  common — or  rather  "  moss,"  for  it  was  partly  covered  with  water, 
and  there  were  deep  treacherous  peat-holes,  like  miniature  tarns,  all  around.  Fully 
alive  to  the  danger,  she  mounted  a  ridge  and  began  to  sing,  "  Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul." 
While  still  singing  she  saw  a  light  gradually  coming  towards  her.  Her  singing  had 
been  heard  by  the  residents  of  a  cottage  that  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  common,  and 
one  of  them  bearing  a  lantern  had  come  out  to  learn  what  was  the  meaning  of  this 
unusual  nocturnal  hymn.  Guided  by  her  voice,  he  made  his  way  to  where  she  was 
standing.  She  found  shelter  in  the  cottage  which,  indeed,  proved  to  be  the  very  house 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE    AND    ENTERPRISE.  283 

to  which  she  had  been  directed.  "Of  course,"  says  the  narrative,  "they  all  believed 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  in  it.'' 

Elizabeth  Smith  met  with  another  similar  experience  while  pioneering  in  "  wild 
Wales."  When  crossing  the  Llandeilo  rocks  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  upper  Wye, 
the  mist  came  on,  and  she  got  off  the  track.  In  a  few  moments  she  would  have  fallen 
over  the  precipice,  had  she  not  given  heed  to  a  premonition  so  real  to  her  that  it 
sounded  like  a  voice  crying  :  "  Stop  !  come  back  !  " 

We  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  Elizabeth  Smith  "  practised  great  frugality  so  as 
not  to  be  burdensome  to  the  friends,  that  she  won  the  affections  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  Welsh  mission  as  carried  on  by  her  cost  nothing  to  the  Ludlow  Circuit." 

Richard  Jukes,  the  poet-preacher,  has1  been  more  than  once  referred  to  in  these 
pages.  In  him  we  have  another  link  connecting  Ludlow  with  the  general  history 
of  our  Church ;  for  he  was  a  native  of  Ludlow  Circuit,  joined  the  society  in  1825 — 
the  same  year  as  Elizabeth  Smith — and  in  1827  began  his  ministry  of  thirty-two 
years  by  being  appointed  one  of  the  six  preachers  of  Ludlow  Circuit.  When,  in 
January,  1900,  Mr.  James  Tristram  died  at  the  patriarchal  age  of  91,  there  passed 
away  one  who  had  been  connected  with  Ludlow  Primitive  Methodism  ever  since  the 
day  when  the  missioners  from  Darlaston  held  their  first  service  in  Old  Street.  He  was 
seventy-three  years  a  local  preacher,  and  when  a  young  man  was  engaged  by  his  circuit 
to  mission  Much  Wenlock,  Madeley,  Iron  Bridge,  and  other  places.  From  1886  to 
1896  James  Tristram  was  a  permanent  member  of  Conference,  and  his  descendants 
of  two  generations  are  in  the  ranks  of  the  ministry.  With  but  a  reasonable  degree 
of  prosperity  premised,  it  was  inevitable  that  Ludlow  Circuit  should  be  divided, 
comprising,  as  it  did,  portions  of  four  counties — Shropshire,  Worcestershire,  Hereford, 
and  Radnorshire.  It  was  natural,  too,  that  when  the  division  was  made  it  should 
take  effect  at  the  extremities.  This  is  indeed  what  happened,  and  the  statement 
of  the  fact  summarizes  the  external  history  of  the  circuit  for  a  period  extending 
beyond  1843.  First,  Presteign  was  detached  in  1828,  and  Kidderminster  followed  in 
1832.  Even  then  the  process  of  division  was  only  begun,  for  Presteign  still  included 
Knighton,  which  has  since  been  made  a  circuit ;  and  for  some  years  after  1851  Ludlow 
had  no  less  than  five  branches,  viz.,  Leominster,  Leintwardine,  Weobley,  Bromyard, 
and  Worcester — all  of  which  are  now  circuits  of  the  West  Midland  District. 

"THE  SHROPSHIRE  STATION,"  AND  PREES  GREEN  CIRCUIT 
WITH  ITS  OFFSHOOTS. 

Things  which  happened  together  must  needs  be  told  one  after  the  other ;  so,  at 
the  very  time  Oakengates,  Shrewsbury,  and  Ludlow  were  at  work  in  the  central  and 
Southern  parts  of  Shropshire,  Burland  was  at  work  in  the  Northern  part  of  the  county. 
Thanks  to  the  carefully-kept  Journal  of  Thomas  Bateman,  we  can  follow  the  progress 
of  the  mission  from  October,  1820,  when  "the  work  was  opening  out  in  Wirral  and 
Shropshire,"  to  1826,  when  the  Prees  Green  Circuit  was  made.  Here  also,  just  as  had 
been  the  case  at  Oakengates  and  Shrewsbury,  a  camp  meeting  and  an  imprisonment 
were  outstanding  events  having  important  consequences. 


284 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST    CHURCH. 


At  the  Whitsuntide  of  1822,  news  reached  Burland  that  some  new  converts  were 
arranging  to  hold  a  camp  meeting  at  Waterloo,  between  Wem  and  Whitchurch. 
Dubious  as  to  the  young  people's  ability  for  the  work  in  hand,  and  having  a  whole- 
some dread  of  possible  irregularities,  the  Circuit  Committee  deputed  G.  Taylor,  J.  Smith, 
and  T.  Bateman  to  take  charge  of  the  camp  meeting.  They  rose  early,  for  they  had 
a  long  walk  before  them.  An  unexpected  rain-storm,  for  which  they  were  unprepared, 
led  them  to  turn  into  the  preaching-house  at  Welsh  End,  to  dry  their  clothes  by  the 
peat-fire.  But  the  drying  process  was  slow,  and  time  pressed,  and  they  resumed  their 
journey.  When  they  reached  Waterloo  the  camp  meeting  was  already  in  progress. 


BAILEY   HEAD,    OSWESTRY. 

They  found  a  Mr.  Humpage  in  charge,  who  gladly  resigned  its  management  into  their 
hands.*  All  went  well  until  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  service,  when  a  number 
of  young  sparks  rode  up  and  formed  in  line  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd,  and  seemed 
disposed  to  mock ;  while  others,  who  had  behaved  decorously  enough  up  to  that  time, 
gave  signs  of  following  their  lead.  The  conduct  of  the  disturbers  was  felt  to  demand 
a  public  reproof,  and  Thomas  Bateman  was  chosen  to  administer  it.  Taking  as  his 
text  the  words  :  "  Suffer  me  that  I  may  speak  ;  and  after  that  I  have  spoken  mock  on," 
he  gave  a  pointed  exhortation,  every  word  of  which  seemed  to  find  its  mark.  It  was 

*  We  conjecture  this  Mr.  Humpage  to  be  the  person  already  mentioned  in  Vol.  i.  p.  520,  in 
connection  with  Darlaston. 


THE   PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  285 

noticed  that  the  heads  of   the  youths  soon  drooped ;  they  listened  to   the  end,  and 
then  rode  quietly  away. 

This  originally  unauthorised  camp  meeting  had  on  it  the  seal  of  the  divine  approval ; 
for  its  results,  immediate  and  remote,  were  remarkable.  Thirty  years  after,  Thomas 
Bateman  was  riding  through  Whitchurch  on  his  way  to  open  a  chapel  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Wem,  when  he  met  with  another  horseman  who  also  was  going  to  the  chapel- 
opening.  From  him  he  learned  that  the  faithful  words  spoken  so  long  ago  had  borne 
almost  immediate  fruit  in  contrition  and  amendment  of  life;  that  the  young  men 
(of  whom  the  horseman  was  one),  as  they  rode  away  from  the  camp-ground,  had  made 
vows — vows  that  time,  and  the  efforts  some  of  them  had  afterwards  made  to  help  on 
the  evangelisation  of  the  country-side,  had  proved  the  sincerity  of. 

Waterloo,  like  the  battle  of  that  name,  was  one  of  the  "  decisive "  camp  meetings 
of  our  early  history.  It  wonderfully  opened  up  the  way  into  this  part  of  Cheshire 
and  the  borders  of  Wales.  Many  requests  for  the  establishment  of  services  at  places 
around  Ellesmere,  Wem,  and  even  Oswestry  were  urged,  and,  from  this  26th  May,  1822, 
increasing  headway  was  made  in  the  district.  In  June  there  had  been  but  four  local 
preachers  in  this  part  of  the  Burland  Circuit,  whereas  in  September  there  were 
thirteen,  besides  some  prayer-leaders.  It  was  now  determined 
that  this  side  of  the  circuit  should  be  constituted  a  branch, 
under  the  name  of  "  the  Shropshire  Station.",  This  somewhat 
unusual  designation  was  chosen  for  reasons  similar  to  those  which 
often  decide  the  election  of  a  pope.  Strong  rival  claimants 
who  will  not  give  way  for  each  other,  will  sometimes  combine  to 
elect  some  cardinal  whom  no  one  had  thought  of  as  a  possible 
competitor.  Market  Drayton  was  the  more  important  place,  and 
it  had  memories.  But  Market  Drayton  was  at  the  extremity  of 

the  branch.     Frees  Green  was  central,  but in  short,  they  shrank 

WILUAM  DOUGHTV.       ^rom  ca^ing  ^  as  7et  "  Frees  Green  Branch,"  and  fell  back  upon 
the   neutral   "  Shropshire    Mission."      Three   preachers  were    put 
down  to  the  mission,  and  one  of  them — W.  Doughty — was  appointed  to  break  up 
new  ground. 

W.  Doughty  found  his  way  to  Oswestry,  and  on  his  third  visit,  there  occurred  his 
arrest  and  imprisonment  which,  next  to  the  camp  meeting  already  referred  to,  turned  out 
to  the  furtherance  of  the  cause.  On  June  8th,  he  took  his  stand  at  the  Bailey  Head, 
opposite  the  Red  Lion,  and  because  he  saw  neither  law  nor  reason  why  he  should 
desist  from  preaching  when  Brynner,  the  constable,  and  his  assistant  told  him  to  do 
so,  they  carried  him  off,  and  eventually  put  him  in  a  grated  cell  under  the  council 
chamber.  A  good  woman  named  Douglas  brought  him  food,  and  though  the  place  in 
which  he  was  confined  was,  to  use  his  own  words,  "too  dark  to  write  clear,"  he 
did  indite  "  a  letter  from  prison "  to  his  benefactor  which  after  being  revised  by 
Mr.  Whitridge,  the  kindly  Independent  minister,  was  printed,  and  may  still  be  read. 
The  Independents,  both  minister  and  people,  showed  W.  Doughty  much  kindness. 
Acting  on  the  advice  of  one  of  them — Mr.  Minshall,  a  solicitor — he  refused  to 
walk  to  Shrewsbury  to  serve  his  sentence  of  a  month's  imprisonment,  so  a  tax-cart 


286 


PRIMITIVE    METHODIST   CHURCH. 


was  provided  to  carry  him  there.  He  told  the  crowd,  gathered  in  Salop  Road  to  see 
him  off,  that  in  a  month's  time  they  would  see  him  coining  down  this  road,  and,  said 
he,  "  I  shall  sing  this  hymn  " — giving  out  a  line  of  it ;  and  he  kept  his  word.  From 
this  time  Primitive  Methodism  gained  a  footing  in  Oswestry.  Even  the  magistrate 
who  had  committed  him  to  prison  granted  him  his  licence,  and  granted  it  with 
kindly  words.  W.  Doughty  is  said  to  have  sought  the  protection  of  a  licence, 
warned  by  the  recent  experience  of  Mr.  Whittaker  of  Knolton  Bryn,  who  had  been 
fined  by  the  magistrates  of  Overtoil  twenty  pounds  for  preaching  in  an  unlicensed 
house.*  In  those  days  licences,  whether  for  places  or  persons  were  useful,  even 
indispensable  documents.  But,  though  Mr.  Doughty  might  now  enjoy  immunity  from 
persecution  in  Oswestry,  he  occasionally  met  with  it  elsewhere.  For  example,  it  is 
stated  that  when  he  and  J.  Mullock  were  at  Tetchill,  two  men  on  horseback  charged 
them,  and  that  Mr.  Doughty  was  ridden  over,  and  his  head  so  cut  that  the  blood  ran 

through  his  hat.  One  is  glad 
to  learn  that  a  gentleman  of 
public  spirit — Mr.  Hughes 
of  Ellesmere — took  up  the 
case,  and  brought  the  mis- 
creants to  justice.t 

For  a  time  the  services  in 
Oswestry  were  held  in  the 
house  of  Mrs.  Elliot,  who 
also  extended  hospitality  to 
the  preachers.  She  stood  by 
VV.  Doughty  at  the  Bailey 
Head  on  the  8th  June,  as 
also  did  her  daughter,  who 
had  a  sweet,  well-trained 
voice  and  greatly  helped  in 
the  singing.  Elizabeth  Elliot 
deserves  to  be  remembered 
alike  for  her  graces  and  her 
fate.  She  should  be  placed 
side  by  side  with  Thomas 

TABLET   IN    OSWESTRY   CHAPEL    BURIAL  GROUND. 

Kemoved  from  old  Chapel.  Watson,  and  John  Heaps  of 

Cooper's  Gardens,  as  an  example  of  the  amount  of  work  that  was  done— and  well 
done,  in  the  early  days  by  those  who  were  still  in  their  teens.  Doughty's  imprison- 
ment affected  her  more  than  his  sermon.  She  joined  the  church  and  began  to 
preach.  "She  was,"  we  are  told,  "an  excellent  speaker;  generally  short,  but  very 
powerful."  She  was  in  great  request,  very  useful,  much  beloved.  But  her  promising 

*"  Early  Recollections  of  Mr.  William  Doughty,  and  of  Primitive  Methodism  in  Oswestry." 
By  Mr.  Thomas  Minshall.  1873. 

t  "Career  of  William  Doughty:  his  Preaching,  Punishment,  and  Prison  Thoughts."  Reprinted 
with  additions  from  the  "  Oswestry  Advertiser,"  April  8th,  1863. 


THE    PERIOD    OF    CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  287 

life  had  an  early  and  tragic  close.  On  Saturday,  April  23rd,  1825,  she  started 
for  her  Sunday  appointments  at  Llandreino,  in  Montgomeryshire.  As  she  stepped 
into  the  ferry-boat  at  Pant  (Llanyinynech)  she  said,  in  parting  with  a  friend  whose 
hospitality  she  had  shared:  "Pray  for  me."  Now,  the  river  Virniew,  swollen  by 
the  rains  from  the  Welsh  mountains,  was  in  angry  flood.  There  was  a  chain  across 
the  river  to  keep  the  cattle  from  straying.  Instead  of  crossing  below  the  chain,  the 
boatman  fatuously  attempted  to  cross  above  stream,  and  the  boat,  being  violently 
thrown  against  the  chain,  capsized,  and  Elizabeth  Elliot  and  the  boatman's  wife 
were  drowned. 

At  the  June  Quarterly  Meeting  of  1825  the  Shropshire  Station  got  itself  made  into 
the  Prees  Green  Circuit.     We  say  "  got  itself  made,"  because  the  making  was  done 


FREES   CHURCH. 


against  the  wishes  of  the  parent  circuit,  and  "  rather  prematurely,"  Hugh  Bourne 
thought.  Thus  a  mere  hamlet  came  to  give  its  name  to  a  historic  circuit  which 
embraced  more  than  north  Shropshire,  and  is  now  represented  by  at  least  seven  circuits. 
Hard  by  is  the  village  of  Prees,  with  its  "weather-beaten  church  on  the  hilL"  Of  this 
church  Archdeacon  Allen,  the  friend  of  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Thackeray,  was  vicar 
from  1846  to  1883.  The  vicar  was  on  good  terms  with  his  Primitive  Methodist 
parishioners.  He  took  the  chair  at  the  lectures  Robert  Key  delivered  on  his  periodical 
visits  to  the  village.  He  co-operated  with  them  in  Temperance  work.  When  some 
one  asked  him  to  preach  in*  the  Primitive  Methodist  chapel  he,  in  1874,  wrote  to 
Dean  Stanley  inviting  his  views  on  the  general  question  whether  there  is  any  law 
to  prohibit  a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church  from  officiating  in  any  meeting-house 


288  PKIM1TIVE   METHODIST   CHURCH. 

in  his  parish;  Archdeacon  Allen  evidently  believing  there  was  no  such  prohibitive 
law.  In  this  letter  to  the  Dean  he  says :  "The  Primitive  Methodists  have  done  a  great 
work  at  Frees  in  encouraging  sobriety  and  thrift.  Thirty  years  ago  there  were  ten 
houses  in  Frees  where  intoxicating  liquor  was  sold ;  now  there  are  only  two,  and  in 
only  one  of  these  can  drink  be  consumed  on  the  premises.  This  happy  change 
is  not  due  solely  to  the  Primitive  Methodists,  but  they  have  been  special  labourers 
on  the  side  of  sobriety."  Who  were  these  "  special  labourers "  who  commanded  the 
Archdeacon's  respect  and  willing  co-operation  ?  Materials  for  an  answer  are  supplied 
by  Rev.  S.  Horton,  himself  a  native  of  Frees : — 

"  Two  brothers  of  the  name  of  Powell  got  converted  at  a  camp  meeting.  From 
being  the  ringleaders  in  wickedness  they  became  the  ringleaders  in  righteousness. 
They  were  men  of  marked  ability  and  force  of  character.  William  Powell  prospered 
greatly,  and  became  the  head  of  a  large  firm,  employing  some  hundreds  of  men. 
He  could  neither  read  nor  write  when  he  was  converted  and,  when  he  commenced 
work  as  a  local  preacher,  used  to  recite  his  hymns  and  passages  of  Scripture  from 
memory.  But  he  was  a  force  in  the  neighbourhood  that  made  for  righteousness, 
and  everybody  respected  his  sterling  integrity  and  uprightness  of  character. 
Another  village-reformer  of  a  different  type  was  Samuel  Adams,  a  well-read, 
thoughtful  man,  with  deep  spiritual  insight,  and  a  lover  of  everything  beautiful 
and  true — the  leading  temperance  reformer  of  the  place.  Then  there  was  also 
Joseph  Ikin,  one  that  feared  God  and  eschewed  evil,  whose  descendants  are  among 
the  prominent  supporters  of  Methodism  in  the  neighbourhood  to-day.  These  and 
others,  less  prominent  but  like-minded,  were  the  leaders  of  the  Primitive  Methodist 
Church,  and  were  by  training  and  conviction  Nonconformists  of  the  old  sturdy" 
type,  that  resisted  church-rates,  and  would  to-day  undoubtedly,  if  alive,  have  led 
a  campaign  for  'passive  resistance'  against  the  Education  Bill."* 

To  these  names  must  be  added  that  of  Thomas  Rogers,  whose  long  and  honourable 
connection  with  our  Church  was  recognised  by  his  election  as  a  permanent  member 
of  Conference.  He  was  house-carpenter  at  Hawkstone  Park — the  seat  of  the  family 
to  which  belonged  Lord  Hill,  Wellington's  second  in  command,  and  the  eccentric 
Rowland  Hill,  of  old  Surrey  Chapel.  Lord  Hill  of  Hawkstone  both  gave  and  sold 
several  sites  for  the  building  of  chapels  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  it  was  through 
Thomas  Rogers'  influence,  it  is  said,  that  the  first  of  such  sales  was  brought  about. 

Much  was  said  in  a  preceding  part  of  this  History  of  the  "  vision-work "  which 
marked  the  formative  period  of  the  Connexion.  Hugh  Bourne  came  across  it  again 
when  on  a  visit  to  Frees  Green  Circuit  in  October,  1828.  Two  young  women  went 
into  trance  while  he  was  there ;  and,  though  he  was  struck  Avith  "  the  dignity  with 
which  the  two  young  persons  conducted  their  cause,"  and  thought  their  singing  when 
in  the  trance  was  "  beyond  anything  he  remembered  to  have  heard,"  yet  the  counsel 
he  gave  the  society  indicates  a  more  critical  attitude  towards  these  doubtful  phenomena 
than  he  had  taken  twenty  years  before.  "  I  gave  them,"  says  he,  "  the  general  advices 
usually  given  in  our  Connexion,  and  which  are:  (1)  None  to  go  in  vision  if  they 
can  avoid  it.  (2)  Not  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  it.  (3)  That  faith,  plain  faith, 

*  Article  on  "Archdeacon  Allen"  in  Primitive  Methodist  Quarterly  Review,  July,  1903» 


THE    PERIOD    OF   CIRCUIT    PREDOMINANCE   AND    ENTERPRISE.  289 

which  worketh  by  love,  is  greater  than  these  things ;  but  that  if  any  one's  faith  was 
strengthened  by  them,  so  far  it  was  well." 

When  in  1833  Oswestry  was  formed  into  a  circuit,  a  huge  cantle  of  territory  lying 
to  the  west  was  cut  off  from  Frees  Green.  Still,  Market  Drayton  remained  to  it  as 
a  branch  and,  more  singular  still,  Longton  in  the  Potteries  was  also  a  branch  until 
1836,  when  it  appeared  on  the  stations  for  a  time  as  a  separate  circuit,  with 
Thomas  Russell  as  superintendent.  Market  Drayton  continued  connected  with  Frees 
Green  until  1869,  and  Wem  until  1878. 

OSWESTRY  AND  ITS  OFFSHOOTS. 

Oswestry  Circuit  had  a  good  start.  It  had  a  membership  of  697,  and  a  good  staff 
of  workers  and  capable  officials.  Its  "lot" — no  narrow  one  to  begin  with,  was  capable 
of  indefinite  enlargement  in  certain  directions ;  for  its  way  lay  open  into  the  Welsh 
counties  of  Flint,  Denbigh,  and  Montgomery.  Its  history  shows  that  it  can  fairly 
claim  to  have  been  a  missionary  circuit.  It  did  cross  the  English  border.  Three 
other  circuits  have  been  formed  from  it  and,  in  addition,  it  undertook  for  some  years 
the  responsibility  of  the  Lisburn  Mission.  Moreover,  it  was  long  known  for  the 
liberal  support  it  gave  to  the  general  missionary  fund. 

In  Oswestry  itself,  a  building  called  the  Cold  Batjh  had  been  transformed  into 
a  chapel,  which  was  opened  by  Thomas  Bateman  on  December  12th,  1824.  Soon  after 
this,  W.  Doughty  retired  from  the  ministry  and  began  business  in  one  of  the  houses 
attached  to  the  chapel ;  but  he  still  continued  a  most  active  official,  as  the